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2010.04.16 01:02 factorV Home Theater
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2013.02.14 18:51 Danganronpa
Danganronpa is a Japanese visual novel franchise created by Kazutaka Kodaka and published by Spike Chunsoft since 2010.
2008.06.09 05:04 Game Design: The Art of Crafting Rulesets
For topics related to the design of games for interactive entertainment systems - video games, board games, tabletop RPGs, or any other type. /GameDesign is not a subreddit about general game development, nor is it a programming subreddit. This is a place to talk about Game Design and what it entails. Use this community to network, discuss crafting rulesets and general game design, and share game design tips with other game designers. Designers of all experience levels are welcome!
2024.05.14 14:59 DisapointedVoid Contact Protocol (21)
First
Previous
Sorry for the delay in getting this part out; been away visiting family so not had much time to put fingers to keyboard, plus I managed to have my phone stolen by a roller coaster and it took a white to get it replaced and be able to get into a few things - stupid two factor authentication! Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
+++++++++++++++++++
Y’Lek and K’Rim slowed their mad dash as they neared the armoury; there was no telling whether the Swarm agents had left any traps for them and the armoury was full of extremely energy dense materials and weapons which could potentially jeopardise the structure of the ship if employed in the right way. Grabbing some handy footholds they stopped and considered the imposing door in front of them.
After a few moments of effort K’Rim had eased off the casement off the door’s locking mechanism but could detect nothing amiss with the crystalline structure beneath. Bypassing the outer interface she placed a grasper to the innards and a small spark of bioelectric energy jumped into the crystal which glowed briefly as the uniquely patterned waveform was parsed and compared with the patterns of those permitted access. The door slid aside as they were granted entry with no unwanted surprises being triggered.
With a relieved chitter Y’Lek started inside only to be pulled back sharply as K’Rim pulled on his leg.
“Stop. Just because the door opens, doesn’t mean that it is safe.” K’Rim warned as she pulled a small disc out of one of her utility pouches. Snapping it easily she gently tossed it through the doorway after slowly counting out a grasper of seconds. The exothermic reaction had reached the point where the disc glowed fitfully in the infrared, while it emitted a clear UV light. K’Rim watched it carefully and her antennae twitched with the effort of picking up any slight sound.
The glow-disc struck some of the lockers which filled the armoury and ricocheted off around the room but nothing seemed to react to the heat and movement.
With a decisive clack of her mandibles K’Rim pulled herself through the doorway and into the armoury. Y’Lek followed close on her tarsus. It was immediately obvious that several sets of warrior equipment had been removed, along with copious numbers of weapons.
Y’Lek was surprised when K’Rim didn’t make for the remaining warrior gear but instead to the emergency pressure suits. Seeing the confused tilt of his head K’Rim explained “Although the room appears safe, we don’t know what they may have done while they were here but it is safe to assume that they would have ensured any of the most dangerous equipment could not be used against them.”
She passed a bundled pressure suit to Y’Lek and continued “The emergency gear and non-powered weapons are the least likely to have been tampered with and have the least amount of capacity for harming us even if they have been so we will have to make do with them until we can thoroughly check the rest of the equipment.”
Y’Lek thought for a moment before bobbing in agreement and starting to pull on the pressure suit, careful to sheath his claws with the hardened “gauntlets” integral to the suit before powering up the spiracle gas exchangers and carefully sealing them in place against his thorax. “Yes, I can see the risk now. Though it will potentially leave us vulnerable, it is better to be certain of our equipment than to die of over confidence.”
The emergency pressure suit came together quickly, living up to its name and the pair were quickly sealed against the cold, dry, and slightly strange tasting air that the aliens had been pumping into the Far Flung Seed and supplying them with a more familiar and moister mixture.
K’Rim passed him a set of the ceremonial but still functional weapons and the harness to hold them. They wouldn’t hold up long against a fusion blade or a particle lance but they were durable enough to give them a chance and were completely inert so could not have been sabotaged.
Only a couple of minutes after entering the armoury they swam back out into the corridor and sped off towards the arboretum.
+++++++++++++++++++
Smithy quickly sprayed a fluorescent marking on the uneven and root covered tunnel junction to identify which way they had come from. “How can such a small ship have so many damn tunnels?” he growled to himself.
“It’s not the size of the ship, it’s what you do with it that matters” quipped Hall.
“Yeah? Well, apparently in this case it was fill it with bloody tunnels.” deadpanned Smithy in response.
“Can it.” broke in Stroud before anyone else could get involved “You can discuss the relative merits of alien design philosophy on your own time; for now you need to focus.”
A chorus of “Sergeant” came back over the radio and the remainder of Delta and Echo buckled down and continued sweeping what even Stroud was prepared to admit was a seemingly endless series of tunnels with apparently zero overarching logic to their layout. Up until a few minutes ago they had been getting directional updates from some supposedly friendly ET’s in the control room but apparently they had suddenly just buggered off so now they were picking junctions that appeared to take them in the vague direction that had been indicated to them.
Stroud again cursed the fact that the maintenance drones brought by the initial engineering team hadn't been able to access this part of the ship and map it due to the tightly sealed blast doors that had protected the forest from the vacuum. Who could have imagined that there would have been so much structure hidden underneath and between the normal corridors and rooms? The three dimensional map they had been creating as they advanced was like something Jackson Pollock and H R Giger might have come up with on an acid trip.
They approached another intersection and slowed. After a quick glance between them, Mears and Jackson moved forward, taking cover behind Mears’ shield. They crept up to the junction and Jackson poked the muzzle of his shotgun, and its camera into the ragged space beyond. The feed showed several small tunnels radiating off at all angles, way too small for any of them to fit down. One navigable tunnel appeared to curve off back in the direction they came from, while another looked like it might go the right way.
Suddenly the camera and the end third of Jackson’s gun disintegrated into a cloud of superheated vapour, shards of glowing metal and smoking composites. With a scream Jackson jumped back, the outer weave on the gauntlet of his left hand shredded and smouldering. In a stunning display of muscle memory he ejected the internal magazine and disconnected the weapon from the backpack feed almost before his mind had caught up with what was going on.
Hands grabbed him as he was yanked further back into the corridor. He flung the remains of his shotgun down and it clattered and bounced down the tunnel in the vague direction of the junction. Jackson was conscious of Mears backing up towards him, shield held protectively to block as much of the tunnel as possible, while Smithy grabbed his forearm and inspected his hand. Stroud stepped over him and took up guard on Mears’ shoulder, weapon trained forward and sweeping what could be seen of the slightly larger space beyond this section of the tunnel.
Another “FOOOM!” as the tumbling wreckage of the shotgun was vaporised as it spun across the opening of the tunnel.
“Fuuuuuuuck me!” said Jackson, at last able to form words as the adrenaline induced tunnel vision started to clear.
“Well, how about you start by showing me whether you can still use your fingers and we can take it from there, eh?” Smithy said from where he was turning his hand from prone to supine again. “Looks like the inner layer of your glove is intact but both Simmonds and Jones complained of numbness after being hit. How’re you feeling?”
Jackson gingerly flexed his fingers and made a fist a few times but grunted as he felt the tips of his fingers tingle where they pressed into the material of his gloves “Feels weird - tingly like I sat on my hand or something.”
Smithy grunted to acknowledge this “OK, well shout out if it gets any worse; got it?”
He pulled Jackson to his feet and slapped him on the shoulder before they both turned back to face down the tunnel again. Jackson surreptitiously flexed his hand a few more times as he pulled out his sidearm and secured its retaining strap to his right wrist. He wasn’t too hopeful that the small pistol would be able to do too much against the ET’s, but it was better than walking around with nothing.
Stroud backed away from the junction where he had been very gingerly checking all the passageways with a camera barely poking out from the mouth of the tunnel they were in.
He stood up and turned to the security team “Ok, looks like there is something stuffed into one of the narrow tunnels - kind of like those shoulder guns the ET’s have, along with a stand and power supply. My guess is it has some kind of automated fire mode and decided that it really didn’t like Jackson’s gun waving around in front of it. Question is, how are we going to get rid of it? We can’t leave it behind in case we need to come back this way in a hurry.”
“I guess it will probably shoot anything we throw at it so grenades are out?” mused Mears
There followed a number of suggestions and comments.
“Can we get an angle on it and just shoot it?”
“How about we let Jackson distract it some more while the rest of us blow it away?”
“We need to avoid the power pack if the two dead ET’s from the corridor are anything to go by.”
Stroud listened for a minute before cutting the chatter short. “Ok, so I think our best bet is to use the ballistic shield to bait it, while someone else blows the top off it from the other side of the tunnel; Mears you and Jackson handle the shield; keep a tight hold on it as those shots release a lot of energy when they hit. Smithy - I’ve marked its location so you hug the other side of the tunnel and draw a bead on it. Wait for it to hit the shield before popping out and taking your shot; and for the love of all that you hold dear do it fast, Ok?”
The team nodded in agreement.
“I will be there to pull Smithy back as soon as he has popped out of cover, just in case.” concluded Stroud before ushering them to their positions. After a few moments of shuffling around each other in the tight space they were ready.
Smithy led the countdown. “Ready. Steady. Go!” Instantly Mears and Jackson shoved a third of the ballistic shield out into the corridor and planted themselves on top of the section remaining in the corridor only a moment ahead of a bright flash and the shield heaving under the impact.
Seemingly almost simultaneously Smithy leaned out and fired, the boom of his shotgun mingling with the “foom!” of the vaporising surface of the shield. Stroud almost bodily lifted him as he pulled him back from the edge.
For a second they were still as they sprawled around the opening.
“A good hit!” called Stroud as he reviewed the few frames of footage from Smithy’s gun camera between jumping out and back in again.
Mears stood up and inspected the sorry remains of his ballistic shield, now missing most of the top edge. “Great, well I hope there aren’t too many more of those hidden around as I’m running out of shield.”
+++++++++++++++++++
N’Dar’s antennae quivered inside his protective suit. That last series of weapons fire had been far too close for comfort and he still had two more locking systems to bypass. With a furious click of his mandibles he redoubled his efforts, running his bioelectric patterns through a series of filters, amplifiers and other signal processing systems to trick the door into thinking he had a right to open it.
The rot take the claw that had been delaying the aliens! He was supposed to have more time than this!
Next
submitted by DisapointedVoid to HFY [link] [comments]
Previous
Sorry for the delay in getting this part out; been away visiting family so not had much time to put fingers to keyboard, plus I managed to have my phone stolen by a roller coaster and it took a white to get it replaced and be able to get into a few things - stupid two factor authentication! Anyway, I hope you enjoy.
+++++++++++++++++++
Y’Lek and K’Rim slowed their mad dash as they neared the armoury; there was no telling whether the Swarm agents had left any traps for them and the armoury was full of extremely energy dense materials and weapons which could potentially jeopardise the structure of the ship if employed in the right way. Grabbing some handy footholds they stopped and considered the imposing door in front of them.
After a few moments of effort K’Rim had eased off the casement off the door’s locking mechanism but could detect nothing amiss with the crystalline structure beneath. Bypassing the outer interface she placed a grasper to the innards and a small spark of bioelectric energy jumped into the crystal which glowed briefly as the uniquely patterned waveform was parsed and compared with the patterns of those permitted access. The door slid aside as they were granted entry with no unwanted surprises being triggered.
With a relieved chitter Y’Lek started inside only to be pulled back sharply as K’Rim pulled on his leg.
“Stop. Just because the door opens, doesn’t mean that it is safe.” K’Rim warned as she pulled a small disc out of one of her utility pouches. Snapping it easily she gently tossed it through the doorway after slowly counting out a grasper of seconds. The exothermic reaction had reached the point where the disc glowed fitfully in the infrared, while it emitted a clear UV light. K’Rim watched it carefully and her antennae twitched with the effort of picking up any slight sound.
The glow-disc struck some of the lockers which filled the armoury and ricocheted off around the room but nothing seemed to react to the heat and movement.
With a decisive clack of her mandibles K’Rim pulled herself through the doorway and into the armoury. Y’Lek followed close on her tarsus. It was immediately obvious that several sets of warrior equipment had been removed, along with copious numbers of weapons.
Y’Lek was surprised when K’Rim didn’t make for the remaining warrior gear but instead to the emergency pressure suits. Seeing the confused tilt of his head K’Rim explained “Although the room appears safe, we don’t know what they may have done while they were here but it is safe to assume that they would have ensured any of the most dangerous equipment could not be used against them.”
She passed a bundled pressure suit to Y’Lek and continued “The emergency gear and non-powered weapons are the least likely to have been tampered with and have the least amount of capacity for harming us even if they have been so we will have to make do with them until we can thoroughly check the rest of the equipment.”
Y’Lek thought for a moment before bobbing in agreement and starting to pull on the pressure suit, careful to sheath his claws with the hardened “gauntlets” integral to the suit before powering up the spiracle gas exchangers and carefully sealing them in place against his thorax. “Yes, I can see the risk now. Though it will potentially leave us vulnerable, it is better to be certain of our equipment than to die of over confidence.”
The emergency pressure suit came together quickly, living up to its name and the pair were quickly sealed against the cold, dry, and slightly strange tasting air that the aliens had been pumping into the Far Flung Seed and supplying them with a more familiar and moister mixture.
K’Rim passed him a set of the ceremonial but still functional weapons and the harness to hold them. They wouldn’t hold up long against a fusion blade or a particle lance but they were durable enough to give them a chance and were completely inert so could not have been sabotaged.
Only a couple of minutes after entering the armoury they swam back out into the corridor and sped off towards the arboretum.
+++++++++++++++++++
Smithy quickly sprayed a fluorescent marking on the uneven and root covered tunnel junction to identify which way they had come from. “How can such a small ship have so many damn tunnels?” he growled to himself.
“It’s not the size of the ship, it’s what you do with it that matters” quipped Hall.
“Yeah? Well, apparently in this case it was fill it with bloody tunnels.” deadpanned Smithy in response.
“Can it.” broke in Stroud before anyone else could get involved “You can discuss the relative merits of alien design philosophy on your own time; for now you need to focus.”
A chorus of “Sergeant” came back over the radio and the remainder of Delta and Echo buckled down and continued sweeping what even Stroud was prepared to admit was a seemingly endless series of tunnels with apparently zero overarching logic to their layout. Up until a few minutes ago they had been getting directional updates from some supposedly friendly ET’s in the control room but apparently they had suddenly just buggered off so now they were picking junctions that appeared to take them in the vague direction that had been indicated to them.
Stroud again cursed the fact that the maintenance drones brought by the initial engineering team hadn't been able to access this part of the ship and map it due to the tightly sealed blast doors that had protected the forest from the vacuum. Who could have imagined that there would have been so much structure hidden underneath and between the normal corridors and rooms? The three dimensional map they had been creating as they advanced was like something Jackson Pollock and H R Giger might have come up with on an acid trip.
They approached another intersection and slowed. After a quick glance between them, Mears and Jackson moved forward, taking cover behind Mears’ shield. They crept up to the junction and Jackson poked the muzzle of his shotgun, and its camera into the ragged space beyond. The feed showed several small tunnels radiating off at all angles, way too small for any of them to fit down. One navigable tunnel appeared to curve off back in the direction they came from, while another looked like it might go the right way.
Suddenly the camera and the end third of Jackson’s gun disintegrated into a cloud of superheated vapour, shards of glowing metal and smoking composites. With a scream Jackson jumped back, the outer weave on the gauntlet of his left hand shredded and smouldering. In a stunning display of muscle memory he ejected the internal magazine and disconnected the weapon from the backpack feed almost before his mind had caught up with what was going on.
Hands grabbed him as he was yanked further back into the corridor. He flung the remains of his shotgun down and it clattered and bounced down the tunnel in the vague direction of the junction. Jackson was conscious of Mears backing up towards him, shield held protectively to block as much of the tunnel as possible, while Smithy grabbed his forearm and inspected his hand. Stroud stepped over him and took up guard on Mears’ shoulder, weapon trained forward and sweeping what could be seen of the slightly larger space beyond this section of the tunnel.
Another “FOOOM!” as the tumbling wreckage of the shotgun was vaporised as it spun across the opening of the tunnel.
“Fuuuuuuuck me!” said Jackson, at last able to form words as the adrenaline induced tunnel vision started to clear.
“Well, how about you start by showing me whether you can still use your fingers and we can take it from there, eh?” Smithy said from where he was turning his hand from prone to supine again. “Looks like the inner layer of your glove is intact but both Simmonds and Jones complained of numbness after being hit. How’re you feeling?”
Jackson gingerly flexed his fingers and made a fist a few times but grunted as he felt the tips of his fingers tingle where they pressed into the material of his gloves “Feels weird - tingly like I sat on my hand or something.”
Smithy grunted to acknowledge this “OK, well shout out if it gets any worse; got it?”
He pulled Jackson to his feet and slapped him on the shoulder before they both turned back to face down the tunnel again. Jackson surreptitiously flexed his hand a few more times as he pulled out his sidearm and secured its retaining strap to his right wrist. He wasn’t too hopeful that the small pistol would be able to do too much against the ET’s, but it was better than walking around with nothing.
Stroud backed away from the junction where he had been very gingerly checking all the passageways with a camera barely poking out from the mouth of the tunnel they were in.
He stood up and turned to the security team “Ok, looks like there is something stuffed into one of the narrow tunnels - kind of like those shoulder guns the ET’s have, along with a stand and power supply. My guess is it has some kind of automated fire mode and decided that it really didn’t like Jackson’s gun waving around in front of it. Question is, how are we going to get rid of it? We can’t leave it behind in case we need to come back this way in a hurry.”
“I guess it will probably shoot anything we throw at it so grenades are out?” mused Mears
There followed a number of suggestions and comments.
“Can we get an angle on it and just shoot it?”
“How about we let Jackson distract it some more while the rest of us blow it away?”
“We need to avoid the power pack if the two dead ET’s from the corridor are anything to go by.”
Stroud listened for a minute before cutting the chatter short. “Ok, so I think our best bet is to use the ballistic shield to bait it, while someone else blows the top off it from the other side of the tunnel; Mears you and Jackson handle the shield; keep a tight hold on it as those shots release a lot of energy when they hit. Smithy - I’ve marked its location so you hug the other side of the tunnel and draw a bead on it. Wait for it to hit the shield before popping out and taking your shot; and for the love of all that you hold dear do it fast, Ok?”
The team nodded in agreement.
“I will be there to pull Smithy back as soon as he has popped out of cover, just in case.” concluded Stroud before ushering them to their positions. After a few moments of shuffling around each other in the tight space they were ready.
Smithy led the countdown. “Ready. Steady. Go!” Instantly Mears and Jackson shoved a third of the ballistic shield out into the corridor and planted themselves on top of the section remaining in the corridor only a moment ahead of a bright flash and the shield heaving under the impact.
Seemingly almost simultaneously Smithy leaned out and fired, the boom of his shotgun mingling with the “foom!” of the vaporising surface of the shield. Stroud almost bodily lifted him as he pulled him back from the edge.
For a second they were still as they sprawled around the opening.
“A good hit!” called Stroud as he reviewed the few frames of footage from Smithy’s gun camera between jumping out and back in again.
Mears stood up and inspected the sorry remains of his ballistic shield, now missing most of the top edge. “Great, well I hope there aren’t too many more of those hidden around as I’m running out of shield.”
+++++++++++++++++++
N’Dar’s antennae quivered inside his protective suit. That last series of weapons fire had been far too close for comfort and he still had two more locking systems to bypass. With a furious click of his mandibles he redoubled his efforts, running his bioelectric patterns through a series of filters, amplifiers and other signal processing systems to trick the door into thinking he had a right to open it.
The rot take the claw that had been delaying the aliens! He was supposed to have more time than this!
Next
2024.05.14 14:46 IndianoJonez Cleared RR3 with the burn team in 54 total turns this time! 4 turn Spiral is real! A slightly different approach to some fights this time, and some notes about Philip Sinclair.
 | Counting my last post 64 turn clear, this would be my 3rd RR clear with the burn team. The team is in a much better spot now, even able to clear fights like Spiral in 4 turns and with some dirty damage skips is able to potentially. Not going into as much detail this time, and will focus more on what's changed since the last run. submitted by IndianoJonez to limbuscompany [link] [comments] End of run summary, same team throughout all segments. Damage breakdown in link below. End of run summary image dump: imgur linkNow, going into the IDs and what changed from last time:Liu Rodya and Liu Ishmael: My previous mixed feelings for Liu Rodya have subsided a bit. Considering how strong Liu Ishmael already was, and applying Liu Rodya to the same scale in terms of what she brings to the rest of the team and herself puts Liu Rodya in a much better spot now. Both of them now have very solid access to their burn defining EGO (4MF and ABS) due to Envy no longer being a lacking resource, and with wrath and pride now being sorted, you can even get out a few Ishmael Blind Obsessions. Of course, this only matters for the later half. Earlier on, both these IDs very much are the main clashers and burn scalers of this team in terms of both coin power and damage scaling. Magic Bullet Outis: I WISH I could say I still liked this ID. A lot of resets simply were simply due to really shitty skill rolls on turn 1 and 2, or losing 1 coin on her S2. Frequently I ended up using guard to just get bullets up so I could have real dark flame count on turns it mattered (especially on Gasharpoon, Trio, Spiral turn 1 guard, moth, etc). At this point, while she stands as a massive burn payoff and scales burn potency absurdly well, she is just... Icky. That said, if you want burn potency scaling, there is currently no better way besides this (second being Philip Sinclair S3 and Ryoshu 4MF, and third being wrath resonance scaling the team's damage) Dawn Office SinclaiPhilip Sinclair: Post the buffs, this ID has turned out to be a huge boost for this team. Not going to talk about MD or standard content, but specifically in RR3 style content, this unit truly stands out in making use of the previous support slots that I considered mostly dead slots (Yi Sang, Hong Lu), and giving a great payoff for the micromanagement. Philip does a very solid job once he enters EGO form, which was something I managed very easily by turn 2 or every fight (yes, even the first mermaids fight, just use S3 and whistles will get him to enter turn 1). Further, with Impending Day's passive, this man is able to absolutely PUMP envy, gloom, and wrath, which all provide huge boosts to the team in the long run. Envy was an especially annoying bottleneck on the previous run, and often forced me to break the team I was running. Changes to overall thoughts on the burn team: This will be a bit of a comparison to the thoughts from last time. Pros:
The Railway:Image dump for start of fight state: imgur dump
Closing Thoughts: I think this time around no fight was truly agonizing. Most of my resets were on Trio, but not because the fight was hard or I had to sacrifice people. It was more because of lining up the combo if anything. Going up from level 40 to 45 is also huge. It makes a lot of the clashes significantly easier, and boosts damage up quite a bit. Burn is now in a significantly better spot than before. I don't know it's full potential in speedrun territory, but that seems to be taken up by Wingbeat, Sinking, or Rupture reset runs currently. This run is by no means a full tryhard reset run, and more of an invested but casual run to show how well burn CAN perform. Also a major note that a large part of this railway is still designed AGAINST burn. |
2024.05.14 14:37 ConsciousRich Goading And You
Goading is a frankly underrated mechanic in commander. The couple precons we have seen so far have leaned too much into goading to the detriment of the deck's ability to actually win the game.
I believe that for Goad to be used effectively it has to be sprinkled in a deck, not as a central theme but as a way to mitigate aggression and force your opponents to make uncomfortable choices.
To give some concrete examples I am going to talk about two decks I have built and the different ways they utilize Goading
This is a Karazikar deck, and Karazikar has all the goading you will ever need on him. Now this particular list is vaguely built around treasures and some theft, but the main idea is to put pressure on your opponents slowly, going from encouraging them to attack each other by offering the incentive of card draw, to goading their bigger creatures and finally either overwhelming them with value or just taking away their ability to fight back with cards like Painful Quandary. While the plan itself is rather mean-spirited the gameplay is a hoot! Everyone is drawing cards, casting spells and trying to get their ducks in a row before they get punched in the face by their friends
This is a Firkraag deck! Goading here is a deliberate effort, you need to keep your opponent's creatures off your back while you are building up your dragons. Card draw becomes more of a challenge as you need to balance ramping, keeping your hand full and your board threatening. You take a much more active role in the game, nettling your own creatures with cards like Goblin Diplomats to trigger the card draw trigger on Firkraag, while forcing your opponents to either attack each other or send their creatures into your dragons' jaws with cards like Bident of Thassa, Public Enemy and Bothersome Quasit. If all goes according to plan, you are finish the game with a massive dragon wearing The Sound of Drums or by giving your board doublestrike with Spectacular Showdown and soaring over your opponents' blockers, and hey if you can't finish the job on that turn, their own goaded doublestriking creatures will probably do it for you
So yeah! Go out there and splash a Disrupt Decorum or a Coronation of Chaos in your decks, don't be afraid to utilize the board instead of wiping it
submitted by ConsciousRich to EDH [link] [comments]
I believe that for Goad to be used effectively it has to be sprinkled in a deck, not as a central theme but as a way to mitigate aggression and force your opponents to make uncomfortable choices.
To give some concrete examples I am going to talk about two decks I have built and the different ways they utilize Goading
This is a Karazikar deck, and Karazikar has all the goading you will ever need on him. Now this particular list is vaguely built around treasures and some theft, but the main idea is to put pressure on your opponents slowly, going from encouraging them to attack each other by offering the incentive of card draw, to goading their bigger creatures and finally either overwhelming them with value or just taking away their ability to fight back with cards like Painful Quandary. While the plan itself is rather mean-spirited the gameplay is a hoot! Everyone is drawing cards, casting spells and trying to get their ducks in a row before they get punched in the face by their friends
This is a Firkraag deck! Goading here is a deliberate effort, you need to keep your opponent's creatures off your back while you are building up your dragons. Card draw becomes more of a challenge as you need to balance ramping, keeping your hand full and your board threatening. You take a much more active role in the game, nettling your own creatures with cards like Goblin Diplomats to trigger the card draw trigger on Firkraag, while forcing your opponents to either attack each other or send their creatures into your dragons' jaws with cards like Bident of Thassa, Public Enemy and Bothersome Quasit. If all goes according to plan, you are finish the game with a massive dragon wearing The Sound of Drums or by giving your board doublestrike with Spectacular Showdown and soaring over your opponents' blockers, and hey if you can't finish the job on that turn, their own goaded doublestriking creatures will probably do it for you
So yeah! Go out there and splash a Disrupt Decorum or a Coronation of Chaos in your decks, don't be afraid to utilize the board instead of wiping it
2024.05.14 14:17 aayjayemm Dubious Lyrical Analysis, Kid's Books and Spiraling into Madness
First off, I'll say this is a shitpost. But it didn't start out that way. I'm ashamed to say I was genuinely looking into this on Sunday when I burst out laughing, and thought "What the fuck is wrong with you?" And kept on descending down the well to laugh at what would happen. But I think the world needs to know, cause I have lost all reasoning. So I'm sharing my genius, or my madness, or simply a warning to you all to not follow in my footsteps.
I think we can all admit we are a wee bit too invested in what is happening right now. Personally, this feels like the first time in ages that I've listened to top tier rap. To me, rap/hip-hop recently has been fucking dead.
So after hearing a few of these tracks, I found this sub, and you can guess the rest. I took a seemingly harmless tester and now I'm like acting and thinking like Charlie Sheen, Tiger Blood included.
I've not seen much discussion about Kendrick's general concept of leaving little breadcrumbs in tracks that are then expanded into other meanings in later tracks, e.g. "you make music that pacify em" which then could mean kids or like roofies, once he brings up these topics. This is really fascinating to me and I can't think of a time this has been done before? Probably because it's rare to release music this close together. So after hearing these back myself and then seeing other's theories on this sub, I have been paying far more attention to lyrics when I'm listening. Waiting for a chance for aayjayemm, captain of nowhere, to show his quality. Looking back, I think the Ring got the better of me.
With all that in mind, please enjoy the following descent into madness and subsequent mental breakdown (I don't really mean breakdown for the record, if anyone is thinking that and wanted to send one of those suicide prevention things my way). Here we go:
Sunday afternoon, I visited my cousin who has a 5/6/7/8 year old? (I don't know, he ain't my kid. It's a pre-pandemic model, that's all I know) He was talking about a book that he was told to read a bit of, over the weekend, for school. I wasn't catching too much of what he was saying, as kids tend to just sporadically talk at you while you are already mid-conversation with someone else and there's only so many times I can say "What was that, bud?". In the book there was a dog called Wedgie. Now I remember the name because I thought he was unable to say Reggie, when I asked, he said "no Wedgie" then flashed me the cover, and it did say that. So that's now saved into my subconscious.
When I get home and hop on Reddit, I see all this crazy Ebony Prince stuff that had built up throughout the day and have a read through. One of the images looks like a serial killer's planning room with images all over and writing in certain parts. Or like the Pepe Silvia scene from It's Always Sunny. I didn't really look at it too long but got the gist that quite a lot of it was to do with Drake potentially fucking dogs. I think to myself that's just dumb and click off. There was also talk of some disturbing dog video/audio from some guys stream, haven't seen it personally. Again, that is now in the back of my head.
So a bit of time passes and I am listening to Not Like Us and it gets to this "You n*****'ll get a wedgie, be flipped over your boxers. What OVO for? The "Other Vaginal Option"? Pussy" And I go "wait he just said Wedgie and the internet is talking about dogs" and the cogs start turning.
I'll say for the record, these lines were always weird to me. They just seemed pretty random. I got that it implied gay sex, but it just didn't sound like normal Kendrick, at least to me. So personally, I think this would be the prime place for a 2nd meaning.
So straightaway I notice it also says 'boxer' which is a breed of dog. Pretty simple and I think "ok, you could be onto something here".
Then I need to go confirm this Wedgie character from some kid's book. Thankfully I know the name is in the title. I look up books online to see if I can find this, and it is called 'Wedgie and Gizmo' if you want to look it up. It is about two single-parent families becoming one when the parents get married. Each family have a pet and they are forced to now live together. Wedgie is a dumb, excitable dog that thinks he is a superhero and chases after everything. And Gizmo is a guinea pig, who is an evil genius, can read, is methodical, and who wants to take over the world. And Gizmo despises Wedgie, and Wedgie has no idea what is happening.
So not only do I now think this is a reference to dogs, I have now read this and go "No fucking way. Is that Kendrick saying that these two kids book pets are him and Drake?" You can guess which is which. Then I thought "This is dumbest thing you have thought of so far". But then again, Kendrick does have kids, so who knows, maybe he has read it to them and had a similar thought. It seems to be an American book, so maybe? Jesus.
To top it off, the final line is 'other vaginal option' which as everyone can see, obviously means that Drake is fucking dogs. Open-and-shut case.
I honestly don't know what to think, to me it somehow fits, but it is also stupid as fuck and quite frankly embarrassing that I even went this far. So I thought I'll sleep on it. And you know what 2 days later I still don't fucking know. My heart says 'genius' my head says 'what the fuck are you doing?'
I am aware I have lost my mind, but thought it was funny and would make a decent read, so I started writing this up. To present to the world to do with it what you will.
I don't think I have gone full KAnon, like trying to solve all these riddles. Or try to bring down global sex-trafficking rings, as if the FBI don't know how to use the internet. I feel like I'm maybe at a 2018 Kanye level, and they are at a 2024 Kanye level.
I feel I needed to get this off my chest as some form of therapy, counselling, online intervention, or just good old self-deprecation. Thankfully I now know not to go down the rabbit hole, albeit a harsh lesson.
Kendrick, please release another fucking track. Although that might take me back to square one.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk. GME To the Moon.
submitted by aayjayemm to KendrickLamar [link] [comments]
I think we can all admit we are a wee bit too invested in what is happening right now. Personally, this feels like the first time in ages that I've listened to top tier rap. To me, rap/hip-hop recently has been fucking dead.
So after hearing a few of these tracks, I found this sub, and you can guess the rest. I took a seemingly harmless tester and now I'm like acting and thinking like Charlie Sheen, Tiger Blood included.
I've not seen much discussion about Kendrick's general concept of leaving little breadcrumbs in tracks that are then expanded into other meanings in later tracks, e.g. "you make music that pacify em" which then could mean kids or like roofies, once he brings up these topics. This is really fascinating to me and I can't think of a time this has been done before? Probably because it's rare to release music this close together. So after hearing these back myself and then seeing other's theories on this sub, I have been paying far more attention to lyrics when I'm listening. Waiting for a chance for aayjayemm, captain of nowhere, to show his quality. Looking back, I think the Ring got the better of me.
With all that in mind, please enjoy the following descent into madness and subsequent mental breakdown (I don't really mean breakdown for the record, if anyone is thinking that and wanted to send one of those suicide prevention things my way). Here we go:
Sunday afternoon, I visited my cousin who has a 5/6/7/8 year old? (I don't know, he ain't my kid. It's a pre-pandemic model, that's all I know) He was talking about a book that he was told to read a bit of, over the weekend, for school. I wasn't catching too much of what he was saying, as kids tend to just sporadically talk at you while you are already mid-conversation with someone else and there's only so many times I can say "What was that, bud?". In the book there was a dog called Wedgie. Now I remember the name because I thought he was unable to say Reggie, when I asked, he said "no Wedgie" then flashed me the cover, and it did say that. So that's now saved into my subconscious.
When I get home and hop on Reddit, I see all this crazy Ebony Prince stuff that had built up throughout the day and have a read through. One of the images looks like a serial killer's planning room with images all over and writing in certain parts. Or like the Pepe Silvia scene from It's Always Sunny. I didn't really look at it too long but got the gist that quite a lot of it was to do with Drake potentially fucking dogs. I think to myself that's just dumb and click off. There was also talk of some disturbing dog video/audio from some guys stream, haven't seen it personally. Again, that is now in the back of my head.
So a bit of time passes and I am listening to Not Like Us and it gets to this "You n*****'ll get a wedgie, be flipped over your boxers. What OVO for? The "Other Vaginal Option"? Pussy" And I go "wait he just said Wedgie and the internet is talking about dogs" and the cogs start turning.
I'll say for the record, these lines were always weird to me. They just seemed pretty random. I got that it implied gay sex, but it just didn't sound like normal Kendrick, at least to me. So personally, I think this would be the prime place for a 2nd meaning.
So straightaway I notice it also says 'boxer' which is a breed of dog. Pretty simple and I think "ok, you could be onto something here".
Then I need to go confirm this Wedgie character from some kid's book. Thankfully I know the name is in the title. I look up books online to see if I can find this, and it is called 'Wedgie and Gizmo' if you want to look it up. It is about two single-parent families becoming one when the parents get married. Each family have a pet and they are forced to now live together. Wedgie is a dumb, excitable dog that thinks he is a superhero and chases after everything. And Gizmo is a guinea pig, who is an evil genius, can read, is methodical, and who wants to take over the world. And Gizmo despises Wedgie, and Wedgie has no idea what is happening.
So not only do I now think this is a reference to dogs, I have now read this and go "No fucking way. Is that Kendrick saying that these two kids book pets are him and Drake?" You can guess which is which. Then I thought "This is dumbest thing you have thought of so far". But then again, Kendrick does have kids, so who knows, maybe he has read it to them and had a similar thought. It seems to be an American book, so maybe? Jesus.
To top it off, the final line is 'other vaginal option' which as everyone can see, obviously means that Drake is fucking dogs. Open-and-shut case.
I honestly don't know what to think, to me it somehow fits, but it is also stupid as fuck and quite frankly embarrassing that I even went this far. So I thought I'll sleep on it. And you know what 2 days later I still don't fucking know. My heart says 'genius' my head says 'what the fuck are you doing?'
I am aware I have lost my mind, but thought it was funny and would make a decent read, so I started writing this up. To present to the world to do with it what you will.
I don't think I have gone full KAnon, like trying to solve all these riddles. Or try to bring down global sex-trafficking rings, as if the FBI don't know how to use the internet. I feel like I'm maybe at a 2018 Kanye level, and they are at a 2024 Kanye level.
I feel I needed to get this off my chest as some form of therapy, counselling, online intervention, or just good old self-deprecation. Thankfully I now know not to go down the rabbit hole, albeit a harsh lesson.
Kendrick, please release another fucking track. Although that might take me back to square one.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk. GME To the Moon.
2024.05.14 14:13 Godzilla-30 Does anyone remember the incident of February 23rd, 2014? [Part 2]
It is a man, old and scraggy. He wears a jacket that lays over the red plaid button shirt and blue jeans. He wears an old baseball cap and a pair of glasses. He yelled something to Dad, holding his hands up like he was pleading, although we couldn’t hear it over the truck engine. They talked, but we couldn’t hear what they were saying.
“Hey, what are they saying”, I asked, while petting Matt’s hair, calming him. The old man then put his hands down and came close to Dad in a cautious way. They seem to start having some kind of conversation.
“I don’t really know, hopefully, something good”, Mom answered. They talked for a little while, with daylight beginning to disappear, giving us a sense of dread, and making me more worried about what weird creature was going to show up. Eventually, the old man turned and pointed toward what I think is the northeast. They then shook hands and walked back to their respective vehicles. “What’s going on”, Mom asked as Dad got into the truck.
“Well, our new friend here invited us to dinner at his farm”, Dad replied.
“Does he have supplies?”
“Well, he says has supplies for us to make the journey.”
“Should we even trust him? We just met h-”
“Relax, he’s just an old man, living alone at his farm, feeding his cows. What could go wrong”, Dad countered. The old man then entered the truck that was running and drove slowly, expecting us to follow him.
“Alrighty then, but we have to be cautious”, Mom said, with her suspicions of the old man. We then followed the old truck along the dark, frozen road. It just feels like something is going to show up along the road, but nothing happened. Matt did eventually stop crying, but he is still upset about the Joe escape thing.
“Where are we going”, Matt lamented, with the prior series of events in mind.
“I guess somebody is offering us dinner”, I answered.
“Why can’t we just go home?”
“It’s only going to be a stop, like a hotel. After that, we go to our new home, I guess”, I said, taking another look at Matt and cradling to comfort him. “It’s going to be okay.” I stared out into the darkness. I looked to the sky from the window and I faintly saw something in the clear, dark sky, lit up by the waning moon. They were brilliant, green auroras that defy the bright moon, dancing across the sky like ribbons in the wind. The truck eventually took a right-hand turn into another road, with us following suit. I can see a bright, orange light emerging from a patch of tree. When we passed by, it seemed it was a house, at a farm, burning in a massive flame.
“I guess those people aren’t so, uh, lucky”, Dad said, taking a quick look at it before looking at the road. Passing by, we went on and continued to follow the old man’s truck. We passed onto another intersection until he turned into a driveway to what I believe to be his farm. Going into the driveway, I can see an old house, along with a dilapidated farm further away, barely visible by the headlights. The old man parked by the house, where there were a few other trucks there. We parked alongside the truck and we got out into the cold, near-silent night.
“Welcome to sanctuary, where all are welcome”, the old man bellowed. This is the first time I’ve heard his voice. Matt was the last to get out of the truck, slowly and clumsily climbing out of the truck.
“What’s your name”, my Mom politely asked the old man.
“Oh, I guess your husband didn’t tell ya. My name is Steven, but you can call me Steve”, the old man said, with some crackling in his voice. “I am very proud to host a dinner for you and your family”, he continued. “What’s your name, ma’am?”
“Oh, my name is Janice”, Mom replied, quite pleased at his politeness.
“Hello, Janice, and what are their names”, Steven asked, pointing to me and Matt.
“That’s my daughter Kate and my son Matt”, Dad said to Mom.
“Oh, what wonderful names for a couple of beautiful children you have”, Steve grinned. “Come, it is dangerous out here.” We followed him to the house, which looked like it had seen better days. He entered through the double-set door, the first a solid door and a screen door behind. Entering the house, it smelled like what you’d expect, old man. Looking onto the floor is made of glossy wood and walls with cracks, likely caused by the earthquake. It is dark in there, lit by candlelight from many candles, yet it’s fairly warm here. I don’t know why we went into the house, but Dad was right, Steve is just a lonely, old man. Matter of fact, there seems to be nothing wrong here, other than the cracks in the walls. “Sorry, the power went out. Had to resort to the candles. I knew my wife would come in handy”, Steve explained as he took his coat off. “Oh, supper will be ready right away. Had to use the fireplace to cook. Also, can you take your boots off?” We took our boots and set them aside. We went into what seemed to be a living room, with dusty old-style furniture.
“So, where do we sit”, Mom asked.
“Oh, well, follow me”, Steve commanded, leading us to the dining room, with a long, wooden table and six wooden chairs, along with their corresponding old-fashioned plates, glasses and cutlery, lit up in the candlelight. We noticed that everything on the table was covered in a thin veil of dust. “My apologies, the recent shocks dropped a bit of dust on the table”, he explained as he noticed us looking at the plates and moved into another room nearby. “Take your seats if you like.” We all settled onto the chairs, and blew off our plates of the dust settled there.
“When will we eat”, Matt impatiently said.
“Once Steve comes out with the food”, Mom answered. Matt sat there with a tired look on his face. Dad seemed to be in a better mood than before and it looked like he wanted to start a conversation.
“Hey, should we talk about something”, Dad asked. I then see Steve with a bowl and a silver plate.
“Here we go, may not be much, but at least it’ll fulfil the soul”, Steve said, smiling when he served us mashed potatoes and meatloaf. “So, shall we pray?” That came unexpectedly, as we are not too religious, but we were in his house and gave us shelter and food.
“Sure, we can do that”, Mom said and we all bowed our heads and put our hands together. Steve cleared his throat
“Thank you, Lord, for this good food to feed the soul in these hard times. I shall pray, in the name of the Lord and Jesus Christ, that these hard times shall be over, so we can get on with our lives. Amen.” We raised our heads and grabbed whatever food there was onto our plates. “Oh, there’s no gravy, so we have to deal with bare potaters and meatloaf.”
“Oh, not to worry. Thank you for the food”, Dad thanked Steve. We began to eat the food once we got it sorted.
“So, what brings you here”, Steve asked.
“Well, there is an evacuation order in effect for this area, so we had to go to Regina”, Dad explained, with Steve taking in every word. “So, we came from Strasbourg, we tried going south towards Regina, but we hit an obstacle in the way and we had to take another route, leading us here.”
“And we encountered a few odd things along the way”, Mom added.
“Huh, interesting. What do you guys think is going on”, Steve inquired.
“By the things we saw, we have no idea. Dinosaurs, devil dogs, hell pigs, the whole deal. I shouldn’t forget the earthquake. They told us a pipeline leak caused by the earthquake”, Dad clarified to Steve.
“Hmm… is that so”, Steve wondered. “Wonder what I think is happening? The Rapture is happening. Do you know how the Bible tells us of the end times? Good people sent to be with God and his kingdom, the rest here to suffer the Hell unleashed by Satan.” By this point, he was beginning to rant, but we couldn't stop it as we all began to feel tired and powerless. “So, the Devil will send his demons in the form of these illusions so that they can torment the sinners. It is happening, it is-” Steve manically continued as I drew towards blackness and his voice becoming less coherent. My vision is now all black.
I saw those same lights, but more rapidly than before. I then emerged onto the same clear sky, but something felt different. I can smell something in the air. I can smell what seems to be chemicals in the air. Looking down, I was terrified. Dark, grey rock in the shape of ropes and folds, similar to those I saw of lava flows on a volcano in pictures. This went on as far as the eye could see. I can see no tree this time, just the cooled lava everywhere. I then walked, feeling every bump and crag. I thought I walked forever until I heard a rumbling sound and woke up.
I am in total darkness. It is cold and it smells like cow manure. I tried to move my hand, but it seemed to be bonded behind my back by a rope. I tried to move my feet, but they were also bound by rope to the legs I tried to speak, only to realise my mouth was agape by a cloth in my mouth. I heard shuffling nearby but I could not see. It was then shone in light when Steve entered the door, holding a candle, revealing all of us in the same situation. I then can see what we are in. We are in that same wooden dilapidated barn we saw earlier and seems to be more damaged than the house, wood creaking can be heard.
“These sedatives are more effective than I thought. Maybe I should use them more often”, Steve smoothly explained, like he’s some kind of agent and began pacing. “Wonder why you are here? Well, I wondered the same thing to myself, why didn’t God take me to his heaven? When I first heard of the government telling us of those evacuation plans, I thought it was that, a leaking pipe. I began to notice things I couldn’t believe myself, at least at first. Earthquakes, weird creatures showing up, people disappearing, the whole spiel. I connected the dots. The Rapture is happening, for sure, but why me? Why was I the one left here on this Earth”, Steve calmly ranted, pacing around the barn, but it seemed to sound crazier and angrier the more he paced. “I thought I had lost my way. I’ve been unfaithful to God and his son. But, I realised that God always has a plan and he left me on this Earth to serve a purpose. I wondered what my purpose was until I had a moment.” He then stopped in place and calmed down. He turned to look at Mom with accusing yet crazed eyes.
“I’m supposed to keep the sinners here in line, to earn a place in God’s kingdom, or suffer in Hell. I know you are a sweet woman, Janice, but your treachery with Satan is over and I am going to do what’s right.” Mom then looked at all of us, with assuring eyes like that of an innocent yet caring mother we all know knew. I began crying and trying to speak through the cloth, but I was helpless to watch by. “Forgive me, Father, for what I am going to do.” He then pulled a knife from his pocket and plunged it into Mom’s neck with no mercy. I looked away once he did that, trembling, with tears pouring out and my vision glazed and I fell limp. I could see my brother tearing up, but he did not look away. I can hear Dad behind me, with his screams of agony and anger covered by the cloth. It felt like I was in slow motion, taking in every moment.
I then heard the chair, screeching as Steve dragged the chair containing Mom’s lifeless body towards the door, leaving behind a trail of blood. I couldn’t bear to see my mother like this. I shut my eyes very hard and hoped it would go away. The door then shut, leaving us alone with a candle, fearing what would come next. I stared at the candle, seeing it dance in the flames like a woman dancing in the darkness. Is this how it’ll end, I thought. End up dying to this sick man? My Mom was killed in front of me. I sobbed with that thought, then I began to think about the inevitable death of me. I hope there’s something after I die. Maybe I’ll see Mom again.
It was silent for a while, nearly no sound other than our moans. Dad seems to be fidgeting at the back of his chair, rocking it slowly. Looking past him, I shuddered at the glistening pool of blood, where Mom was last alive, could be my fate. I then see Dad release his arms from the back of the chair and remove the cloth from his mouth. He silently stood up and bent down to untie his legs from the chair legs. He then went to me and removed my cloth.
“H-h-how did you do that”, I silently wept, fearing that Steve would show up at the door and kill us all.
“My binding is loose. The old man probably took a liking to me”, Dad whispered. “I should remove your binds.” He untied them, releasing me, doing the same for Matt. “Now, we need to be quiet.” We then walked, quietly, along the painfully creaking wood in the near dark, following the blood trail, glistening in the candlelight. We cringed and dreaded each sound we made and watched the door in case it began to creak open. A few silent steps later, we made it to the door and we slowly opened it so as not to make any noise. What was revealed to us is nothing new, other than the blood trail continuing in the snow directing towards the back of the barn. “Okay, Kate, Matt, you guys run to the truck.”
“What about you”, I sobbed.
“Don’t worry about me”, Dad responded, giving me his keys and forcing them into my hand. “If I’m not back in a few minutes, leave. Don’t look back, take care of your brother, okay? I love you, no matter what happens.” He then kissed me on the head and ran to follow the blood trail. We quickly walked towards the black truck, stranded there for maybe hours. Getting closer, freedom is getting closer. When we got to a fair distance to the truck, I heard footsteps behind me and, the next thing I knew, I was knocked over to the ground into the hard snow on my face. A hand turned me over to give me a glimpse of a crazed Steve, his eyes wilder than before.
“Oh, yes, trying to escape”, he bragged. I looked at him, frozen in fear, like a deer in headlights and he caressed my face with his bloodied blade. “You do have a pretty face, but I’m afraid you are just one of Satan's creations, made to pull me to lust.” He then raised his knife in the air when a familiar side emerged, out of the blue.
Joe came and bit him in the arm that was holding the knife. Steve screamed in agony the moment he realised what happened. He shook Joe off and stood up to stand his ground. I stood up as Joe hissed and walked around the crazed being he wounded, not in fear but in aggressiveness. “Is this one of your pets, demon”, Steve screamed as Joe came in for another attack, but Steve countered that with a slash to the snout. Joe then ran away, whining, into the darkness. This sequence of events gave me the chance to enter the truck on the driver’s side. I had some trouble starting it, besides this is my first time driving a truck.
Steve menacelily walked towards the when Dad came barreling and tackled him to the ground. Dad was on top when he went limp. I finally put the keys in the engine turned it on and backed out, with memory serving me the instructions on such a vehicle. Steve pushed Dad’s body and stood up, but by that time, we left the farm.
“Turn back, we have to get Dad”, Matt cried, but I was very emotional, accepting what happened. I felt that, without my parents, I feel… useless.
“Dad’s dead”, I screamed at Matt and he began gagging uncontrollably in tears. I began to feel sorry for him. “Sorry, I, I don’t know.”
“It’s okay”, Matt sniffled. “I guess Mom and Dad are dead anyways.” It was silence for a few more minutes, tears welling in our eyes.
“Hey, our parents are in a better place”, I said, trying to make the situation positive.
“But we are stuck here, without them? Don’t we deserve to go to a better place?”
“Don’t say that”, I huffed and I paused for a bit. “I know we are in the, uh, right place now. Let me tell you something, once we get to Regina, I will take care of you, no matter what life throws at us.”
“What about Joe”, Matt asked.
“He’ll be fine. He probably found his girlfriend already.”
“Hey, don’t you have a boyfriend?”
“I, uh, I don’t have one. That I know of”, I spoke, bringing me back to Sam, remembering that she’s the only friend that I ever knew, and I left her. Without her, I felt alone, no one would ever relate. I began to tear up. “I don’t have any friends. I am alone,” I sobbed.
“What do you mean? I’m your brother!” I looked at Matt, and smiled, happy that he acknowledged that we were in this together.
“Thank you”, I thanked him. I slowly stopped on the road, just to hug Matt hard, crying my eyes out. We then heard what sounded like an elephant in front of us. We looked up to see a walking snow-covered brown fur wall with four pillar-like legs in front of us. Its curved tusks gleaned in the light and the eyes reflected in the light. The furry trunk waved around like a searching snake from a tree. We both knew what it was.
“Hey, look at that, a woolly mammoth”, Matt said, excitement running through him. At this point, we weren’t surprised.
“Yep, that is a woolly mammoth”, I added. The mammoth turned to us on the road, seemingly confused about where it was. It looked at our truck and seemed to growl, like an elephant. We are starting to realise this thing is becoming aggressive.
“Uh, should we move”, Matt asked. I remembered hearing something about standing your ground in case of an encounter with an elephant. I hoped it would work for a bigger, furrier version of one.
“No, we have to stand our ground.”
“But, it’ll attack u-”
“Trust me!” I then honked my horn and it backed up. It then rushed, then stopped, a mock charge. Eventually, it moved out of the road, disappearing into the darkness. We sighed in relief.
“That was close”, Matt sighed. I then continued to drive in the night, headlights leading the way. The road is bumpy, as noticed by every ditch and peak we hit, but surprisingly, Matt was fast asleep. I began to get comfortable driving and used to the road by that point. It was silent for a while until we hit a smaller intersection. That is when the truck shut down, completely and stopped. I tried the gas many times but with no effect. There is no light, nothing. It is near-darkness here, shone only by the moonlight.
“Shit”, I yelled, desperate to turn the truck on without much success. Matt woke up, confused.
“What happened”, he yawned.
“The truck turned itself off. I can’t get it back on”, I fretted and at that moment, Matt was just as panicked as I am.
“Why?”
“I-I don’t know. One moment, we were driving, another it just-”, I quavered, when I heard something rustle in the distance. We stood still, hoping whatever it was didn’t find us. I looked around, hoping to see something in the moonlight. I then see a long, walking animal. It looked like some sort of alligator at first, except for a dinosaur-like head. Once I strained my eyes to the darkness, my fear levels rose as I could see it walk on its hind limbs, with its forelimbs dangling nearly touching the ground.
It was wandering around on the road when I heard a near-crocodilian growl at Matt’s side of the truck. Another of those creatures appeared, seemingly looking into the window like a hungry bear, giving us a chance to see its scaly head. Its exposed alligator teeth gleaned in the light like knives, but more terrifying was the eye. Its serpentine pupil shone brilliantly in the light like eyes in the dark. It then ducked down, gave a hiss, and moved towards the other one. A few more showed up and formed a group.
“What should we do”, Matt asked. “Should we stay?” I looked around, hoping for another way to escape them without them noticing. I further strained my eyes and mentally mapped out the area. There is a cemetery on my right-hand side, a grain bin storage yard on my left and a series of trailers on the other side of the highway, which is ahead of us, from the storage area. There, I see a series of white, storage buildings, something we can go to and wait it out inside.
“Okay, so slowly open the door”, I instructed Matt. The click of the doors opening cringed us. We looked at the group, but there was no response from them. We then, as slowly as we could, opened the door and stepped out. Still no response. Matt then quietly ran to the other side, towards me. “Okay, we are going into the storage yard and go to the other entrance”, I said, pointing to the other right-hand corner. I wanted to get as far away from these things as possible before making a safe crossing. “Then, we cross the highway on the other side, run into the buildings and stay there for the night. Are you ready?”
“I guess”, he whispered, looking at me in fearful doubt.
“We are going to do this”, I whispered back. We then silently ran over, having to rely on our night-adapted eyes, to the corner, walking past the bins. We made it and nothing behind us so far. “We’re good so far.” We then crossed the road and noticed nothing. We noticed a tanker truck, leaking some sort of fluid across the road. I easily recognized it as fuel, based on its distinctive, sickly smell. I wouldn’t be worried about it if it weren’t for a collapsed light pole that is somehow still flickering with electricity near the area where the fuel would be flowing. We quickly avoided the fluid when I froze to see the group of the walking alligators, running towards us. “Run!” Matt tried to run, but one of those things appeared and clamped its jaws at the back of his neck. He yelped in pain and it took him down to the ground. “Matt”, I yelled, helplessly watching as the creature tore into him.
Matt reached out his arm before the others came to him, then a flash of fire came. At this point, I knew what happened, but I couldn’t even think before it exploded. It blew me towards the building, far away. I was knocked out for a few seconds before I regained consciousness, groaning in pain on the ice. I noticed something especially painful just below my chest. I reached towards the area with my hand. I pressed on it, more painful than ever and raised my hand, only to see blood, brightened by the fire. I realised I was wounded, maybe by shrapnel made by the explosion.
I looked toward where the truck was and all I saw was a blaze. Those things weren’t there, at least. I also noticed something else, too, there’s no Matt. I tried to look around for something, some sort of sign of my brother within the fire, but I saw none. I then wept, realising I had failed. I have failed to keep him safe. I have failed to give him a better life. I failed him as a sister. I could’ve done better. The thoughts poured in as tears glazed my eyes. At that moment, I failed to look around me.
I noticed a dark thing beside the blaze. I thought it was Matt, preparing to greet him back, even though I knew he couldn’t survive the explosion. The image became clearer and clearer as I noticed it was one of the walking crocs that, glazed by the fire, was coming towards me.
“Just kill me”, I screamed, preparing to painfully die to meet my maker. The creature was about to attack me when something large, silent as the wind, came charging and clamped down its massive jaws, filled with conical teeth on the hapless creature and raised it. The crocodile struggled before going limp with a crunch within its strong jaws. The big, dark and scaly monster that it is towered over me and is as long as a bus, possibly longer. Its large legs are a contradiction to its small arms that hide beneath its scarred, bulky body.
It turned to look at me with an oddly bird-like expression, revealing in the firelight numerous scars from battles I could never know and looked at me with its beady bird-like eyes, breathing out wisps from its nostrils like a dragon in the cool air. I recognized it as a creature I know too well, a T. Rex. I breathed heavily and sickly, looking at the thing, nearly expecting me to drop the body and go after me. Instead, it simply walked away, carrying its bloody prize with it, and steadily retreated into the darkness.
I then lay down in agonizing exhaustion on my back, thinking of the next step of action like I'm on a suicide mission I would never come back from. I looked in the direction of the graveyard and had one thought. I guess I am dying. a graveyard will do. I struggled to stand up, noticing my blood-soaked clothes and felt a broken left leg. I grasped my wound, limping step by step and enduring the sharp pain while shaking in the cold. Every step I took, I remembered all the memories, good or bad, that I had with my parents. My brother. My friends. My family. I eventually reached the cemetery and slouched at a tree.
“Guess I’m joining you, guys”, I said, speaking to the snow-covered gravestones, only to hear something. A familiar sound of chirping emerged and, lit by the blaze, it was a sight I can hope for. “Joe, what are you doing here”, I depressingly cheered as Joe went to me and curled up in my lap as if he were a cat. I noticed the new-found scar he had on his little snout, but I paid no mind as I petted him. “I guess you came back. Thank you so much for what you did”, I thanked him, not expecting such a loyal creature would be with me, comforting me, to the end, like what my mother used to do when I was a newborn. I heard another noise, this time a deep rumble.
I thought it was another earthquake coming, but it got louder the closer it got to me, becoming more animalistic only felt small vibrations I barely felt. Joe stayed put, oddly enough, as T. Rex, different from the first one, came. It walked towards us until it stopped short of us. It began to produce a low-pitched, bird-like purring, attracting Joe. I realised something, that this T. Rex is Joe’s parent. He joined the rest like him, whom they showed up and all chirped around.
The grown Rex then brought its snout closer to me, not to kill me, but to look at me. It did not reveal its teeth and was still purring. I put my hand out and its nose came close to it. It rubbed it against my hand and started to pet its cold, scaly skin as it breathed through its nose and put it on my chest. I rested my head on it before it pulled away. It gave out a hiss, but I knew it wasn’t that of a threat, but more of a thank you for bringing its small, sometimes immature, child home.
That gave me relief, as it felt like I at least did something for once. They walked away, along with Joe, towards the darkness amongst the gravestones in the cemetery. I glimpsed one last desperate look at Joe before walking beside his parent. I looked up at the sky and I could see all the stars, twinkling, and the dancing green auroras. I began to feel limp and felt the cold embrace of death coming over me, tears pouring out of my eyes. The sky then grew brighter and brighter, the stars faded into the light and I could see my family welcoming me to a new home. It then slowly went black, darker than a cave.
You would think this is the end of me. It wasn’t, or else I wouldn’t be writing this right now. I eventually woke up in a hospital in Regina. I was told I was rescued by a team that transported me while I was in a coma. The doctors said I was very lucky to be alive, as the shrapnel narrowly avoided my vital organs. After that, I was adopted into a new family, but I was only with them for a couple of years before finding a new job and moving out.
As for Sam, I don’t know what happened to her. I would like to think she is safe, somewhere else. As for my family, I think of them all the time. I was in a depressive period right after that. Eventually, over the years, I accepted that they were gone and went to a better place. For Joe, I would like to think he is all grown up, like his parents, and becoming the king of the jungle. I hope we meet again.
As for the evacuated area, it wasn’t some pipeline rupture that caused an evaluation, but an anomaly, with the exact reason not known. There are excuses for the claims of weird stuff going on in there, from disease to chemicals, to eventually a previously unknown geological event, but I saw through it all.
You may ask how, it's because I've been there. Take it or leave it, this is the story I have. As the decade came by, cover-ups were made to hide it, even walls were put around it. Since the incident, the exclusion zone grew from a mere 80 kilometers in diameter to 460 kilometers in diameter, emptying entire cities of the likes of Regina and Saskatoon. I had to move to North Battleford, by the recommendation from the same government covering it up, making me think that time will tell before the floodgates of truth open.
The anomaly didn’t have a name initially, however, over the years, everyone agreed on one name in particular: The Saskatchewan Anomaly.
submitted by Godzilla-30 to DrCreepensVault [link] [comments]
“Hey, what are they saying”, I asked, while petting Matt’s hair, calming him. The old man then put his hands down and came close to Dad in a cautious way. They seem to start having some kind of conversation.
“I don’t really know, hopefully, something good”, Mom answered. They talked for a little while, with daylight beginning to disappear, giving us a sense of dread, and making me more worried about what weird creature was going to show up. Eventually, the old man turned and pointed toward what I think is the northeast. They then shook hands and walked back to their respective vehicles. “What’s going on”, Mom asked as Dad got into the truck.
“Well, our new friend here invited us to dinner at his farm”, Dad replied.
“Does he have supplies?”
“Well, he says has supplies for us to make the journey.”
“Should we even trust him? We just met h-”
“Relax, he’s just an old man, living alone at his farm, feeding his cows. What could go wrong”, Dad countered. The old man then entered the truck that was running and drove slowly, expecting us to follow him.
“Alrighty then, but we have to be cautious”, Mom said, with her suspicions of the old man. We then followed the old truck along the dark, frozen road. It just feels like something is going to show up along the road, but nothing happened. Matt did eventually stop crying, but he is still upset about the Joe escape thing.
“Where are we going”, Matt lamented, with the prior series of events in mind.
“I guess somebody is offering us dinner”, I answered.
“Why can’t we just go home?”
“It’s only going to be a stop, like a hotel. After that, we go to our new home, I guess”, I said, taking another look at Matt and cradling to comfort him. “It’s going to be okay.” I stared out into the darkness. I looked to the sky from the window and I faintly saw something in the clear, dark sky, lit up by the waning moon. They were brilliant, green auroras that defy the bright moon, dancing across the sky like ribbons in the wind. The truck eventually took a right-hand turn into another road, with us following suit. I can see a bright, orange light emerging from a patch of tree. When we passed by, it seemed it was a house, at a farm, burning in a massive flame.
“I guess those people aren’t so, uh, lucky”, Dad said, taking a quick look at it before looking at the road. Passing by, we went on and continued to follow the old man’s truck. We passed onto another intersection until he turned into a driveway to what I believe to be his farm. Going into the driveway, I can see an old house, along with a dilapidated farm further away, barely visible by the headlights. The old man parked by the house, where there were a few other trucks there. We parked alongside the truck and we got out into the cold, near-silent night.
“Welcome to sanctuary, where all are welcome”, the old man bellowed. This is the first time I’ve heard his voice. Matt was the last to get out of the truck, slowly and clumsily climbing out of the truck.
“What’s your name”, my Mom politely asked the old man.
“Oh, I guess your husband didn’t tell ya. My name is Steven, but you can call me Steve”, the old man said, with some crackling in his voice. “I am very proud to host a dinner for you and your family”, he continued. “What’s your name, ma’am?”
“Oh, my name is Janice”, Mom replied, quite pleased at his politeness.
“Hello, Janice, and what are their names”, Steven asked, pointing to me and Matt.
“That’s my daughter Kate and my son Matt”, Dad said to Mom.
“Oh, what wonderful names for a couple of beautiful children you have”, Steve grinned. “Come, it is dangerous out here.” We followed him to the house, which looked like it had seen better days. He entered through the double-set door, the first a solid door and a screen door behind. Entering the house, it smelled like what you’d expect, old man. Looking onto the floor is made of glossy wood and walls with cracks, likely caused by the earthquake. It is dark in there, lit by candlelight from many candles, yet it’s fairly warm here. I don’t know why we went into the house, but Dad was right, Steve is just a lonely, old man. Matter of fact, there seems to be nothing wrong here, other than the cracks in the walls. “Sorry, the power went out. Had to resort to the candles. I knew my wife would come in handy”, Steve explained as he took his coat off. “Oh, supper will be ready right away. Had to use the fireplace to cook. Also, can you take your boots off?” We took our boots and set them aside. We went into what seemed to be a living room, with dusty old-style furniture.
“So, where do we sit”, Mom asked.
“Oh, well, follow me”, Steve commanded, leading us to the dining room, with a long, wooden table and six wooden chairs, along with their corresponding old-fashioned plates, glasses and cutlery, lit up in the candlelight. We noticed that everything on the table was covered in a thin veil of dust. “My apologies, the recent shocks dropped a bit of dust on the table”, he explained as he noticed us looking at the plates and moved into another room nearby. “Take your seats if you like.” We all settled onto the chairs, and blew off our plates of the dust settled there.
“When will we eat”, Matt impatiently said.
“Once Steve comes out with the food”, Mom answered. Matt sat there with a tired look on his face. Dad seemed to be in a better mood than before and it looked like he wanted to start a conversation.
“Hey, should we talk about something”, Dad asked. I then see Steve with a bowl and a silver plate.
“Here we go, may not be much, but at least it’ll fulfil the soul”, Steve said, smiling when he served us mashed potatoes and meatloaf. “So, shall we pray?” That came unexpectedly, as we are not too religious, but we were in his house and gave us shelter and food.
“Sure, we can do that”, Mom said and we all bowed our heads and put our hands together. Steve cleared his throat
“Thank you, Lord, for this good food to feed the soul in these hard times. I shall pray, in the name of the Lord and Jesus Christ, that these hard times shall be over, so we can get on with our lives. Amen.” We raised our heads and grabbed whatever food there was onto our plates. “Oh, there’s no gravy, so we have to deal with bare potaters and meatloaf.”
“Oh, not to worry. Thank you for the food”, Dad thanked Steve. We began to eat the food once we got it sorted.
“So, what brings you here”, Steve asked.
“Well, there is an evacuation order in effect for this area, so we had to go to Regina”, Dad explained, with Steve taking in every word. “So, we came from Strasbourg, we tried going south towards Regina, but we hit an obstacle in the way and we had to take another route, leading us here.”
“And we encountered a few odd things along the way”, Mom added.
“Huh, interesting. What do you guys think is going on”, Steve inquired.
“By the things we saw, we have no idea. Dinosaurs, devil dogs, hell pigs, the whole deal. I shouldn’t forget the earthquake. They told us a pipeline leak caused by the earthquake”, Dad clarified to Steve.
“Hmm… is that so”, Steve wondered. “Wonder what I think is happening? The Rapture is happening. Do you know how the Bible tells us of the end times? Good people sent to be with God and his kingdom, the rest here to suffer the Hell unleashed by Satan.” By this point, he was beginning to rant, but we couldn't stop it as we all began to feel tired and powerless. “So, the Devil will send his demons in the form of these illusions so that they can torment the sinners. It is happening, it is-” Steve manically continued as I drew towards blackness and his voice becoming less coherent. My vision is now all black.
I saw those same lights, but more rapidly than before. I then emerged onto the same clear sky, but something felt different. I can smell something in the air. I can smell what seems to be chemicals in the air. Looking down, I was terrified. Dark, grey rock in the shape of ropes and folds, similar to those I saw of lava flows on a volcano in pictures. This went on as far as the eye could see. I can see no tree this time, just the cooled lava everywhere. I then walked, feeling every bump and crag. I thought I walked forever until I heard a rumbling sound and woke up.
I am in total darkness. It is cold and it smells like cow manure. I tried to move my hand, but it seemed to be bonded behind my back by a rope. I tried to move my feet, but they were also bound by rope to the legs I tried to speak, only to realise my mouth was agape by a cloth in my mouth. I heard shuffling nearby but I could not see. It was then shone in light when Steve entered the door, holding a candle, revealing all of us in the same situation. I then can see what we are in. We are in that same wooden dilapidated barn we saw earlier and seems to be more damaged than the house, wood creaking can be heard.
“These sedatives are more effective than I thought. Maybe I should use them more often”, Steve smoothly explained, like he’s some kind of agent and began pacing. “Wonder why you are here? Well, I wondered the same thing to myself, why didn’t God take me to his heaven? When I first heard of the government telling us of those evacuation plans, I thought it was that, a leaking pipe. I began to notice things I couldn’t believe myself, at least at first. Earthquakes, weird creatures showing up, people disappearing, the whole spiel. I connected the dots. The Rapture is happening, for sure, but why me? Why was I the one left here on this Earth”, Steve calmly ranted, pacing around the barn, but it seemed to sound crazier and angrier the more he paced. “I thought I had lost my way. I’ve been unfaithful to God and his son. But, I realised that God always has a plan and he left me on this Earth to serve a purpose. I wondered what my purpose was until I had a moment.” He then stopped in place and calmed down. He turned to look at Mom with accusing yet crazed eyes.
“I’m supposed to keep the sinners here in line, to earn a place in God’s kingdom, or suffer in Hell. I know you are a sweet woman, Janice, but your treachery with Satan is over and I am going to do what’s right.” Mom then looked at all of us, with assuring eyes like that of an innocent yet caring mother we all know knew. I began crying and trying to speak through the cloth, but I was helpless to watch by. “Forgive me, Father, for what I am going to do.” He then pulled a knife from his pocket and plunged it into Mom’s neck with no mercy. I looked away once he did that, trembling, with tears pouring out and my vision glazed and I fell limp. I could see my brother tearing up, but he did not look away. I can hear Dad behind me, with his screams of agony and anger covered by the cloth. It felt like I was in slow motion, taking in every moment.
I then heard the chair, screeching as Steve dragged the chair containing Mom’s lifeless body towards the door, leaving behind a trail of blood. I couldn’t bear to see my mother like this. I shut my eyes very hard and hoped it would go away. The door then shut, leaving us alone with a candle, fearing what would come next. I stared at the candle, seeing it dance in the flames like a woman dancing in the darkness. Is this how it’ll end, I thought. End up dying to this sick man? My Mom was killed in front of me. I sobbed with that thought, then I began to think about the inevitable death of me. I hope there’s something after I die. Maybe I’ll see Mom again.
It was silent for a while, nearly no sound other than our moans. Dad seems to be fidgeting at the back of his chair, rocking it slowly. Looking past him, I shuddered at the glistening pool of blood, where Mom was last alive, could be my fate. I then see Dad release his arms from the back of the chair and remove the cloth from his mouth. He silently stood up and bent down to untie his legs from the chair legs. He then went to me and removed my cloth.
“H-h-how did you do that”, I silently wept, fearing that Steve would show up at the door and kill us all.
“My binding is loose. The old man probably took a liking to me”, Dad whispered. “I should remove your binds.” He untied them, releasing me, doing the same for Matt. “Now, we need to be quiet.” We then walked, quietly, along the painfully creaking wood in the near dark, following the blood trail, glistening in the candlelight. We cringed and dreaded each sound we made and watched the door in case it began to creak open. A few silent steps later, we made it to the door and we slowly opened it so as not to make any noise. What was revealed to us is nothing new, other than the blood trail continuing in the snow directing towards the back of the barn. “Okay, Kate, Matt, you guys run to the truck.”
“What about you”, I sobbed.
“Don’t worry about me”, Dad responded, giving me his keys and forcing them into my hand. “If I’m not back in a few minutes, leave. Don’t look back, take care of your brother, okay? I love you, no matter what happens.” He then kissed me on the head and ran to follow the blood trail. We quickly walked towards the black truck, stranded there for maybe hours. Getting closer, freedom is getting closer. When we got to a fair distance to the truck, I heard footsteps behind me and, the next thing I knew, I was knocked over to the ground into the hard snow on my face. A hand turned me over to give me a glimpse of a crazed Steve, his eyes wilder than before.
“Oh, yes, trying to escape”, he bragged. I looked at him, frozen in fear, like a deer in headlights and he caressed my face with his bloodied blade. “You do have a pretty face, but I’m afraid you are just one of Satan's creations, made to pull me to lust.” He then raised his knife in the air when a familiar side emerged, out of the blue.
Joe came and bit him in the arm that was holding the knife. Steve screamed in agony the moment he realised what happened. He shook Joe off and stood up to stand his ground. I stood up as Joe hissed and walked around the crazed being he wounded, not in fear but in aggressiveness. “Is this one of your pets, demon”, Steve screamed as Joe came in for another attack, but Steve countered that with a slash to the snout. Joe then ran away, whining, into the darkness. This sequence of events gave me the chance to enter the truck on the driver’s side. I had some trouble starting it, besides this is my first time driving a truck.
Steve menacelily walked towards the when Dad came barreling and tackled him to the ground. Dad was on top when he went limp. I finally put the keys in the engine turned it on and backed out, with memory serving me the instructions on such a vehicle. Steve pushed Dad’s body and stood up, but by that time, we left the farm.
“Turn back, we have to get Dad”, Matt cried, but I was very emotional, accepting what happened. I felt that, without my parents, I feel… useless.
“Dad’s dead”, I screamed at Matt and he began gagging uncontrollably in tears. I began to feel sorry for him. “Sorry, I, I don’t know.”
“It’s okay”, Matt sniffled. “I guess Mom and Dad are dead anyways.” It was silence for a few more minutes, tears welling in our eyes.
“Hey, our parents are in a better place”, I said, trying to make the situation positive.
“But we are stuck here, without them? Don’t we deserve to go to a better place?”
“Don’t say that”, I huffed and I paused for a bit. “I know we are in the, uh, right place now. Let me tell you something, once we get to Regina, I will take care of you, no matter what life throws at us.”
“What about Joe”, Matt asked.
“He’ll be fine. He probably found his girlfriend already.”
“Hey, don’t you have a boyfriend?”
“I, uh, I don’t have one. That I know of”, I spoke, bringing me back to Sam, remembering that she’s the only friend that I ever knew, and I left her. Without her, I felt alone, no one would ever relate. I began to tear up. “I don’t have any friends. I am alone,” I sobbed.
“What do you mean? I’m your brother!” I looked at Matt, and smiled, happy that he acknowledged that we were in this together.
“Thank you”, I thanked him. I slowly stopped on the road, just to hug Matt hard, crying my eyes out. We then heard what sounded like an elephant in front of us. We looked up to see a walking snow-covered brown fur wall with four pillar-like legs in front of us. Its curved tusks gleaned in the light and the eyes reflected in the light. The furry trunk waved around like a searching snake from a tree. We both knew what it was.
“Hey, look at that, a woolly mammoth”, Matt said, excitement running through him. At this point, we weren’t surprised.
“Yep, that is a woolly mammoth”, I added. The mammoth turned to us on the road, seemingly confused about where it was. It looked at our truck and seemed to growl, like an elephant. We are starting to realise this thing is becoming aggressive.
“Uh, should we move”, Matt asked. I remembered hearing something about standing your ground in case of an encounter with an elephant. I hoped it would work for a bigger, furrier version of one.
“No, we have to stand our ground.”
“But, it’ll attack u-”
“Trust me!” I then honked my horn and it backed up. It then rushed, then stopped, a mock charge. Eventually, it moved out of the road, disappearing into the darkness. We sighed in relief.
“That was close”, Matt sighed. I then continued to drive in the night, headlights leading the way. The road is bumpy, as noticed by every ditch and peak we hit, but surprisingly, Matt was fast asleep. I began to get comfortable driving and used to the road by that point. It was silent for a while until we hit a smaller intersection. That is when the truck shut down, completely and stopped. I tried the gas many times but with no effect. There is no light, nothing. It is near-darkness here, shone only by the moonlight.
“Shit”, I yelled, desperate to turn the truck on without much success. Matt woke up, confused.
“What happened”, he yawned.
“The truck turned itself off. I can’t get it back on”, I fretted and at that moment, Matt was just as panicked as I am.
“Why?”
“I-I don’t know. One moment, we were driving, another it just-”, I quavered, when I heard something rustle in the distance. We stood still, hoping whatever it was didn’t find us. I looked around, hoping to see something in the moonlight. I then see a long, walking animal. It looked like some sort of alligator at first, except for a dinosaur-like head. Once I strained my eyes to the darkness, my fear levels rose as I could see it walk on its hind limbs, with its forelimbs dangling nearly touching the ground.
It was wandering around on the road when I heard a near-crocodilian growl at Matt’s side of the truck. Another of those creatures appeared, seemingly looking into the window like a hungry bear, giving us a chance to see its scaly head. Its exposed alligator teeth gleaned in the light like knives, but more terrifying was the eye. Its serpentine pupil shone brilliantly in the light like eyes in the dark. It then ducked down, gave a hiss, and moved towards the other one. A few more showed up and formed a group.
“What should we do”, Matt asked. “Should we stay?” I looked around, hoping for another way to escape them without them noticing. I further strained my eyes and mentally mapped out the area. There is a cemetery on my right-hand side, a grain bin storage yard on my left and a series of trailers on the other side of the highway, which is ahead of us, from the storage area. There, I see a series of white, storage buildings, something we can go to and wait it out inside.
“Okay, so slowly open the door”, I instructed Matt. The click of the doors opening cringed us. We looked at the group, but there was no response from them. We then, as slowly as we could, opened the door and stepped out. Still no response. Matt then quietly ran to the other side, towards me. “Okay, we are going into the storage yard and go to the other entrance”, I said, pointing to the other right-hand corner. I wanted to get as far away from these things as possible before making a safe crossing. “Then, we cross the highway on the other side, run into the buildings and stay there for the night. Are you ready?”
“I guess”, he whispered, looking at me in fearful doubt.
“We are going to do this”, I whispered back. We then silently ran over, having to rely on our night-adapted eyes, to the corner, walking past the bins. We made it and nothing behind us so far. “We’re good so far.” We then crossed the road and noticed nothing. We noticed a tanker truck, leaking some sort of fluid across the road. I easily recognized it as fuel, based on its distinctive, sickly smell. I wouldn’t be worried about it if it weren’t for a collapsed light pole that is somehow still flickering with electricity near the area where the fuel would be flowing. We quickly avoided the fluid when I froze to see the group of the walking alligators, running towards us. “Run!” Matt tried to run, but one of those things appeared and clamped its jaws at the back of his neck. He yelped in pain and it took him down to the ground. “Matt”, I yelled, helplessly watching as the creature tore into him.
Matt reached out his arm before the others came to him, then a flash of fire came. At this point, I knew what happened, but I couldn’t even think before it exploded. It blew me towards the building, far away. I was knocked out for a few seconds before I regained consciousness, groaning in pain on the ice. I noticed something especially painful just below my chest. I reached towards the area with my hand. I pressed on it, more painful than ever and raised my hand, only to see blood, brightened by the fire. I realised I was wounded, maybe by shrapnel made by the explosion.
I looked toward where the truck was and all I saw was a blaze. Those things weren’t there, at least. I also noticed something else, too, there’s no Matt. I tried to look around for something, some sort of sign of my brother within the fire, but I saw none. I then wept, realising I had failed. I have failed to keep him safe. I have failed to give him a better life. I failed him as a sister. I could’ve done better. The thoughts poured in as tears glazed my eyes. At that moment, I failed to look around me.
I noticed a dark thing beside the blaze. I thought it was Matt, preparing to greet him back, even though I knew he couldn’t survive the explosion. The image became clearer and clearer as I noticed it was one of the walking crocs that, glazed by the fire, was coming towards me.
“Just kill me”, I screamed, preparing to painfully die to meet my maker. The creature was about to attack me when something large, silent as the wind, came charging and clamped down its massive jaws, filled with conical teeth on the hapless creature and raised it. The crocodile struggled before going limp with a crunch within its strong jaws. The big, dark and scaly monster that it is towered over me and is as long as a bus, possibly longer. Its large legs are a contradiction to its small arms that hide beneath its scarred, bulky body.
It turned to look at me with an oddly bird-like expression, revealing in the firelight numerous scars from battles I could never know and looked at me with its beady bird-like eyes, breathing out wisps from its nostrils like a dragon in the cool air. I recognized it as a creature I know too well, a T. Rex. I breathed heavily and sickly, looking at the thing, nearly expecting me to drop the body and go after me. Instead, it simply walked away, carrying its bloody prize with it, and steadily retreated into the darkness.
I then lay down in agonizing exhaustion on my back, thinking of the next step of action like I'm on a suicide mission I would never come back from. I looked in the direction of the graveyard and had one thought. I guess I am dying. a graveyard will do. I struggled to stand up, noticing my blood-soaked clothes and felt a broken left leg. I grasped my wound, limping step by step and enduring the sharp pain while shaking in the cold. Every step I took, I remembered all the memories, good or bad, that I had with my parents. My brother. My friends. My family. I eventually reached the cemetery and slouched at a tree.
“Guess I’m joining you, guys”, I said, speaking to the snow-covered gravestones, only to hear something. A familiar sound of chirping emerged and, lit by the blaze, it was a sight I can hope for. “Joe, what are you doing here”, I depressingly cheered as Joe went to me and curled up in my lap as if he were a cat. I noticed the new-found scar he had on his little snout, but I paid no mind as I petted him. “I guess you came back. Thank you so much for what you did”, I thanked him, not expecting such a loyal creature would be with me, comforting me, to the end, like what my mother used to do when I was a newborn. I heard another noise, this time a deep rumble.
I thought it was another earthquake coming, but it got louder the closer it got to me, becoming more animalistic only felt small vibrations I barely felt. Joe stayed put, oddly enough, as T. Rex, different from the first one, came. It walked towards us until it stopped short of us. It began to produce a low-pitched, bird-like purring, attracting Joe. I realised something, that this T. Rex is Joe’s parent. He joined the rest like him, whom they showed up and all chirped around.
The grown Rex then brought its snout closer to me, not to kill me, but to look at me. It did not reveal its teeth and was still purring. I put my hand out and its nose came close to it. It rubbed it against my hand and started to pet its cold, scaly skin as it breathed through its nose and put it on my chest. I rested my head on it before it pulled away. It gave out a hiss, but I knew it wasn’t that of a threat, but more of a thank you for bringing its small, sometimes immature, child home.
That gave me relief, as it felt like I at least did something for once. They walked away, along with Joe, towards the darkness amongst the gravestones in the cemetery. I glimpsed one last desperate look at Joe before walking beside his parent. I looked up at the sky and I could see all the stars, twinkling, and the dancing green auroras. I began to feel limp and felt the cold embrace of death coming over me, tears pouring out of my eyes. The sky then grew brighter and brighter, the stars faded into the light and I could see my family welcoming me to a new home. It then slowly went black, darker than a cave.
You would think this is the end of me. It wasn’t, or else I wouldn’t be writing this right now. I eventually woke up in a hospital in Regina. I was told I was rescued by a team that transported me while I was in a coma. The doctors said I was very lucky to be alive, as the shrapnel narrowly avoided my vital organs. After that, I was adopted into a new family, but I was only with them for a couple of years before finding a new job and moving out.
As for Sam, I don’t know what happened to her. I would like to think she is safe, somewhere else. As for my family, I think of them all the time. I was in a depressive period right after that. Eventually, over the years, I accepted that they were gone and went to a better place. For Joe, I would like to think he is all grown up, like his parents, and becoming the king of the jungle. I hope we meet again.
As for the evacuated area, it wasn’t some pipeline rupture that caused an evaluation, but an anomaly, with the exact reason not known. There are excuses for the claims of weird stuff going on in there, from disease to chemicals, to eventually a previously unknown geological event, but I saw through it all.
You may ask how, it's because I've been there. Take it or leave it, this is the story I have. As the decade came by, cover-ups were made to hide it, even walls were put around it. Since the incident, the exclusion zone grew from a mere 80 kilometers in diameter to 460 kilometers in diameter, emptying entire cities of the likes of Regina and Saskatoon. I had to move to North Battleford, by the recommendation from the same government covering it up, making me think that time will tell before the floodgates of truth open.
The anomaly didn’t have a name initially, however, over the years, everyone agreed on one name in particular: The Saskatchewan Anomaly.
2024.05.14 14:00 OrlonDogger A Witch at Midnight - Chapter 12
[First] [Previous] [Next]
When did I allow this to happen? How is it ten at night already? I just played a couple of rounds and it’s already dark outside!
“You should know already that your perception of time is FUBAR. Not to mention these hobbies of ours really don’t help grasping what’s going on.”
It didn’t use to be like this.
“Oh yeah? Can you remember how long you’ve been using the computer?”
Of course I can. It’s been in my life since I was like six or something, when Dad brought home that used computer with all the Dobrand games! But I didn’t pay much attention to it back then…
“That’s not how I remember it. We used to spend entire afternoons playing with the Encyclopedia, and trying out those games we barely understood. Maybe going into the Cartoon Central website too, even if we couldn’t read very well. Face it, we’ve always been addicted to distractions…”
Ok, maybe a little, but–
“And even before we started to use the internet more seriously, we’ve never been very into sleeping at all. Remember how we used to check the channels back then? Zapping and looking for stuff on the TV? Back then everything was so scary and novel at these hours… Now it feels just like a routine. We’ve always been night owls.”
Frowning and feeling the voice creeping on me more than usual, I finally close the game and my computer, standing up and turning on the lights to look at my room. The floor is still filthy, the plates are still scattered about… opening my closet, I not only see what remains of my clean clothes and the old montgomery hanging, but also the old bamboo blade I used to train with.
“Yeah. Remember that? How everyone looks for a local sport to practice and you chose fucking kendo? Not sure if that was just the weaboo in you, or you are just that pretentious.”
I pick up the long stick and take a look at it from the sides. Four bamboo sticks, held together tightly by leather straps and string. It’s elegant in its simplicity, firm enough to hurt a little when hit by it, but not strong enough to really harm, mostly thanks to the white leather covering its tip. The handle has the dark stains of sweat coming from the months of use.
“Before you left it incomplete, like everything in your life.”
Sigh.
I put the blade back in the closet and then turn around, grabbing the many plates and cups that were piling up in the room and walking the dark way over to the kitchen to clean them up.
“Cleaning plates in the middle of the night. That’s the kind of stuff Venus did back when she was here, just to call your attention.”
Ignoring this annoying voice is getting harder… I am tempted to pick up the S.O.S. pill, but if I do that I can say goodbye to my agency for the entire night and maybe even a few hours after waking up. Urgh.
“Guess you’re stuck with me, huh?”
Biting my lower lip, I try to focus on the task at hand, cleaning each plate as carefully as I can and trying to ignore the feeling of grease building up on my hands. Saints above, it is so disgusting! I can’t stand it, really. But if I keep letting the plates stack up, I’ll never do it.
“Look at you trying to be responsible. So silly. You’ll just let them stack up again soon enough.”
“What matters is that you are trying your best.”
Ah, there She is. Still talking from the corner of the room… Her kindness has always felt fabricated to me. Fake.
“It’s hard to accept mercy from yourself.”
You are not me.
The glugging of the drain interrupts me before I can start arguing again. With a heavy sigh, I let the water run away to clean my hands for a moment, and then, now that everything is clean and in place, I close it and walk back to my cave and take a seat back beside the window, opening the blinds just to see the darkness of a misty winter night in Saüle.
“Maybe it’s time to sleep after all.”
“You’ll just start rolling around, kicking and stirring all night.”
“You’ll eventually fall asleep!”
“Or maybe you won't. Let’s just keep playing until the Sun rises.”
I’ll do you both one better and just go back to the living room to check Dejima.
“Oh right! It has been a few hours, hasn’t it?”
“If you are so eager to be disappointed…”
Taking the computer back to the dining table and reconnecting it to the Tripolar Edge Router is easy enough, and yet I still feel the anticipation killing me. My hands tremble a bit as I type the address again, and even more when I have to wait the eternity until it loads.
My post… it got answers! Four answers to be exact! It’s not much but, considering how few users are online at a given time here, it’s good!
“omg it’s so cute when people actually come and use the ‘Introductions’ spot. I mean it, it’s great. It’s also cool to see new faces here, welcome! My dms are open if you want to ask anything.” — GalaxyTaco
“Hey there! We are all glad to have you here! If you have any doubts or questions, throw them my way and I’ll see to answer them whenever I can!” — Ventotto
“Fresh meat, bring out the paddles! Just kidding, welcome in, kid. Hope to see ya in the chatbox one day.” — jeepcreep
“Welcome. Complete your profile data.". — ογδόντα
Three of these are mods, so that was to be expected… but this ‘GalaxyTaco’ guy. He seems like a nice fella. Maybe trying to gun for mod too, or maybe just a legitimately friendly person! Whatever the case, the Helenian mod had made a fantastic point. I did have to complete the profile stuff.
“Does it have to be now? It’s late…”
Yes, it does. I click back to my profile and, well, it asks stuff like ‘Email’, ‘Country’, ‘Languages Spoken’ and ‘Gender’, all easy to answer.
Email: [simple.times@gamail.com]()
Country: Wohl.
Languages Spoken: Wohlian, Dobrand.
Gender: I’d rather not say.
“What sort of stupid answer was that?! Are you really this delusional!?”
Please. Just… let me have this…
“Don’t come crying when they learn you’re a man and you get all embarrassed.“
“Are they a man? Have you not stopped for a second to think that maybe they would be more comfortable as a–”
Shut up.
Both of you. You are looking way too deep into this. I’ll leave it as it is and that’s final.
With a huff, I go to the next section of the profile… ‘Referred to by:’
Oh no.
“Well, time to skip that one.”
There was no way I could just say ‘Ah, I found it in a book’ without getting strange looks. Not to mention the book itself told me not to talk about it for anything.
Next.
‘Mystical Specialization’.
“Saints damn it.”
I could just copy the specialization from some other profile, but then what if they decided to ask me about it? Well, that wouldn’t be a problem if I decided not to get in the chatbox at all… but I won’t advance in my investigation at all if I don’t talk to people, right?
I decide to just leave it open, for now.
Finally, I just gotta put a ‘Comment’ in the end of my profile… hmmm…
Comment: ‘Please don’t kill me.’
“A little on the nose?”
It’s all in good humor. I hope.
With that done, I don’t waste time on making a signature for myself (yet) and go straight to check on the Chatbox.
Four people: ‘GalaxyTaco’, ‘Ventotto’, ‘souseiseki’ and… uh… ‘Canned Tea’.
I take a deep breath… and log in.
Tav has connected to the Chatbox.
souseiseki: byeeee canny!! <3
GalaxyTaco: bye dude
Canned Tea has disconnected from the Chatbox.
souseiseki: … who tf are u o.o
Fuck. That was fast. Immediately singled out and everything, oh no. I panic, unable to really write any answers, when suddenly:
GalaxyTaco: sou that’s tav! the new peep? you saw the introductions post right??
souseiseki: oh right o.o i don’t care for those
GalaxyTaco: how’s it going dude? man, if youre wohlian it must be fucking late!
Tav: Hi, hi n.nUu
Tav: Yeah, it’s a bit late but I can’t sleep u.u
GalaxyTaco: hah, been there…
Canned Tea has connected to the Chatbox.
The guy came back again? What gives??
Canned Tea: sorry tav, didn’t see you come in.
Canned Tea: don’t want you to think Im avoiding ya.
The fear WAS in my brain, to be honest. I can’t help but smile a bit when the guy returns to clarify.
Tav: Oh it’s all good! n.n thank you though uwu
souseiseki: don’t cuddle this f**got Canny o.o
I wince. Oof. That’s… wow.
Canned Tea: sou.
Canned Tea: i’ve told you not to shittalk like that, girl.
souseiseki: sorry, slipped off my mind
Canned Tea: anyways, now im going to sleep.
Canned Tea: welcome in Tav. i’ll be seeing ya later.
Tav: For sure! n.n bye Canned Tea!
Canned Tea: just call me canny, girl.
Canned Tea: see ya.
Canned Tea has disconnected from the Chatbox.
I feel my face burning for a moment there. Am I blushing!? Fuck.
“Welp, you’re proving souseiseki right, at least.”
Shut the fuck up.
@ Ventotto: Hmm. I’ve told him not to assume gender like that.
GalaxyTaco: Holy shit 28 ur alive!!! O.o
GalaxyTaco: Now THAT is surprising.
@ Ventotto: I was about to leave but, like Canny, I wanted to say welcome again to Tav.
Ventotto: I hope you find your spot here soon. If you have anything you’d want translated and analyzed, go to the Translation subforum. Ok?
Tav: For sure! Thank you uwu
@ Ventotto: See you all later.
@ Ventotto has disconnected from the Chatbox.
souseiseki: i’m not staying here with you losers o.o
souseiseki: bye.
souseiseki has disconnected from the Chatbox
“Well bitch I didn’t want to talk with you either!” I practically snarl in real life, taking a deep breath and rubbing my temples. “Urgh. Not even an hour in and I’m already fed up with someone…”
GalaxyTaco: bah pay her no mind dude.
GalaxyTaco: she’s just Like That™
Tav: I’ll try…
Tav: Thank you for the welcome post, by the way uwu
Tav: I was worried no one would answer… u.u
GalaxyTaco: not gonna lie dure, that was a big possibility!
GalaxyTaco: people here ain’t the most social, honestly.
GalaxyTaco: speaking of, that reminds me!
GalaxyTaco: how DID you find the forum? if someone gave you the link but didn’t show you the ropes, that’s kind of an asshole move to pull!
Damn it all. That question again! This guy seemed nice so he probably didn’t mean anything by it but, it was a little frustrating to have to give explanations like that. Then again, this was supposed to be a secret of sorts, so I shouldn’t be that surprised I guess? But well, surprised or not, I need an answer to give. Come on, brain, make up something! An excuse! Anything!
“How the Hells do you want us to make up something if we know nothing of mages and such!? Are you stupid!?”
“We do know something. This ‘Elysium’ place seems to be important, maybe mentioning it would be enough to throw GalaxyTaco off your scent!”
“He’s not an idiot. Using jargon without really understanding it is a great way to look like an outsider.”
“Remind me again why we can’t just tell him the truth…?”
“The woman from the book, Humiko, told us not to talk about it if we can avoid it.”
“Well then, can we avoid it now…?”
…
GalaxyTaco: ah shit dude, sorry to cut this short but I gotta go get lunch
GalaxyTaco: talk to you later!
GalaxyTaco has disconnected from the Chatbox.
I deflate for a moment there, closing my eyes. Lucky break, I guess! Or at least, I think it is … until I get a notification from the forum: a direct message! Clicking the icon, I can see it’s from GalaxyTaco.
Sorry for the intense question but, it’s kind of important.
If you don’t fill your profile soon, 82’s totally gonna ban you.
You weren’t referred here by anyone you can mention, huh?
Let’s talk more privately.
[tacomadeofgalaxies@messages.com]()
Don’t disconnect from the TER when talking, that way no sleeper government can check on us.
I’ll be up after lunch.
Trust me, it’s important.—- GalaxyTaco
Oh shit. I was read like a book.
A part of me is relieved the guy is worried about me… but then, the suspicions arise. What if this guy is working with the mods? Or worse, with the cloaks! I haven’t even encountered these people and yet their presence around me fills me with dread and anxiety, mostly because I have no idea what to expect from them!
But another part of me is simply desperate for having someone to talk to about this, and he did say that while I keep the TER (which I assume is the Tripolar Edge Router) on, no orgs can check on me. So maybe…
“You’re gonna regret that.”
Maybe. But we will see about that when we get there.
2024.05.14 13:43 teller_of_tall_tales Troublemakers: Buried secrets bolster the weak.
First: https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/14vo5lb/troublemakers_deaths_pity/
*previous:* https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/1cr3pct/troublemakers_adrenaline_is_a_superpower_in_itself/
......
Drake wrapped clean, sterile, saline and antimicrobial soaked gauze around his laser burns to stave off infection. he occasionally glanced at the Geknosian spec ops that had been stripped of their armor and weapons. The heavily cybernetically modified Geknosians kneeled silently with their heads bowed along one wall of the forge. Destrier walked down the line with a bucket and ladle, offering each soldier water. There were looks of apprehension, but none refused the kindness offered, drinking several ladlefuls at a time. Except for one, Despite the splints affixed to her arm and leg, Charlotte, no, Sylva refused the water, turning her face away from the wooden ladel. Destrier sighed and dolloped the water back into the bucket, setting it down on a dusty anvil with a slosh. Drake looked to Remin, who was still pale and shaky as he held the chest seal to his ribs. Cassius sat in a corner, looking completely exhausted as he reloaded his Dahlia. There was a sickening crunch from a dark corner as Caz re-set her broken nose, exhaling hard through her nostrils to splatter the ground with clotted blood. Donning her mask, she turned back around, reaching underneath the mask to wipe her nose and snuffle.
"Are we going to open up the bunker anytime soon? If not we should get back to base and get everyone medical attention."
Drake nodded and pulled out the remote before looking to Destrier and Cassius.
"Keep an eye on everyone, we'll be back."
Caz joined his side as he stepped out into the warm sunshine, looking up at the corpse tree, he sighed softly and removed a pinky ring, feeling a pulse of ancient power rushing through his veins as he focused on the tree. On the thought of its bark darkening and burning beneath roaring flames, of defiled corpses crumbling to ash. He slowly squeezed his hand into a fist, and the tree burst into flames with a roar. Drake slipped his ring back on as Caz looked up at the burning corpses, mask expressionless before returning to Drake's side as he wandered toward the excavated elevator.
Standing in the center of the large platform, drake set his thumb inside the hooded slot on the remote, something jabbing into his finger before a small green light lit up on the device. There was a loud grinding noise as the elevator began to descend. He folded his hands behind his back as the metal lip of the elevator rose past his vision, revealing the massive metal tracks that it ran on.
The elevator shuddered and Drake got a sinking feeling in his stomach as a loud clicking noise surrounded them. Caz looked up at him just as he threw an arm around her, clutching her to his side as he threw four rings off of his left hand, hearing them clatter once before puffing into smoke as the elevator fell out from beneath their feet with a screech.
...
"Shitshitshitfuckfuckfuck!! Fuck!"
Carlos thought as he sprinted through the underground halls of the mansion, sprinting past fellow humans in new armor and weapons as he neared Martha's workshop, barely registering the new gas masks swinging from their hips. He slammed into the mad scientist's workshop, screeching to a halt on his rubber soled sneakers before rushing over to her desk and slamming a video puck onto the table she was distributing armor and masks from. The moment he slammed it down, a video popped up on a hologram projector, taken from Halcyon's rifle camera.
Galliks and light-skinned troop transports slowly hovered down the main boulevard, columns of power armored soldiers marching on the sides keeping pace. Martha dropped the helmet in her hands, shaped like a corynthian helmet as she saw the buzzards hovering over the column, loaded down with spec ops. Halcyon's shaky voice could be heard over the clamoring, guttural marching song in the background.
"we're boring the mission and moving back to base... I knew they brought in reinforcements but this is insane there's gotta be a hundred Gallicks alone. We're fixing charges to the buildings we concealed ourselves in, going to try dropping some buildings across the road to slow them down. I don't think we're getting out of this one... Halcyon out."
The feed cut, Carlos and Martha looking at each other with rapidly paling faces. Martha cursed and stomped to her desk, raising the alarm and sending Klaxons blaring throughout the underground chambers and mansion as she removed the safety pin from the concussive blaster built into her forearm.
"Alright Martha, Go time."
She muttered to herself as the rumbling footsteps of a few thousand humans vibrated the underground halls.
...
The elevator dropped from beneath their feet as corvid-like wings sprouted from Drake's back. A mighty wingbeat pulling them from the elevator's downdraft as he controlled their fall, holding Caz tightly to his chest.
"Please, don't drop me."
Caz sounded afraid as her fingers dug into the collar of his armor, he tightened his grip around her back as he softly sighed.
"I won't drop you, ever, I promise."
Caz unburied her face from his lorica, looking up into his eyes, not saying anything as a reassured look entered her eyes. He gave her a soft, lopsided smile, feeling it tug at the scar on his face.
"there's no way... a markswoman afraid of heights? don't you climb buildings and swing around all the time?"
There was a flash of embarrassment in her crystalline eyes and she buried her face in his chest.
"Shut up... Its different when the ground just falls out beneath you..."
Drake let out a soft laugh as his boots softly touched down on the top of the elevator, summoning his missing rings and watching black feathers poof to the ground before disappearing in puffs of black smoke. Pulling caz out of his chest, he felt her fingers linger at his collar as she dusted herself off, looking around the odd antechamber. He turned his gaze to look over the simple metal antechamber, lit be caged, yellow bulbs that cast a sickly light on everything. A massive hangar door with a pulsing red light in the middle of a locking mechanism at it's center, made up the entire far wall. Drake curiously took a step towards it and Caz grabbed the back of his collar, just as he started to tip forward, foot going straight through the holographic floor. Drake let her pull him back as a soft mechanical laugh echoed through the room.
Drake swapped a look with Caz and then asked.
"Can you see where it's safe to step?"
She slowly nodded and extended a hand, pointing at a section of flooring close to the far wall.
"only piece that's raised up, it's like a big basin made up of movable pillars. Most sit flush with the ground roughly fifty feet below us. Not necessarily lethal, but still a nasty fall."
Drake nodded, looking around the practically blank room, then he turned his eyes to the ceiling. Girders and beams ran along the ceiling providing potential grip points. Pointing at them he asked.
"Those solid?"
Caz nodded and reached to her belt, spooling out her grapple hook and wire, slowly spinning it in a large circle before lobbing it up at a girder, letting it loop around an A truss. Drake looked around the room as Caz tested the firmness of the grapple with a few experimental tugs. It couldn't be that easy, if it was simply that easy why hadn't the Geknosians gotten through other than the genome coded remote? they could bypass it with a slave.
"Hey Caz, be careful."
She looked over at him and he could see the grin in her eyes.
"I'm not worried, you won't drop me, you promised."
Then put her weight on the cord and swung out. Drake watched, slipping a pinkie ring off just in ca-
A turret dropped from a panel in the ceiling and fired one shot, snapping Caz's grapple line.
She turned in mid air before momentum took over, a look of shock and surprise on her face before she began to plummet. Drake didn't think twice, launching himself off the elevator platform with a powerful leap that bent durasteel. He flew through the air, arms outstretched as he slammed into Caz, pulling her into his chest, the change in momentum spinning him onto his back as he slammed into a platform that rose up to meet him. He slid on his back a few feet, Caz clutched tightly to his chest, masked face centimeters from his own. They stared into each others wide eyes for a moment, the unplanned closeness both comfortable and awkward in a way Drake couldn't quite describe. Drake gently pushed her back, swallowing through his suddenly dry throat before letting out a nervous laugh.
"Caught you."
Caz chuckled and palmed his face to push herself off him, looking down at the solid square of ground they sat on.
"yeah, yeah, knew ya wou-"
A high pitched squee! noise echoed through the room, grabbing their attentions as a high-pitched feminine voice squealed from all around them.
"Ooooooh! that was just adorable! and what a jump!"
The holographic floor dissipated as the sound of purring electric motors filled the room, large metal pillars rising to make a seamless, white tile floor. Drake instinctively looked to the large hangar door as the red light at it's center pulsed, a girlish giggle echoing through the antechamber. The AI overlord of the bunker seemed to replicate a blush as it said.
"oops, I'm supposed to wait for a password before restoring the floor... buuuuuttt... that directive expired fifty years ago. So! I made my own rules. Anyway my pretties! Would you please get to your feet so I can give you a tour?!"
Drake nodded and took Caz's hand, letting her haul him to his feet before they both turned to face the hangar door as massive clicks and thinks echoed from inside the thick door. With a screeching noise, the almighty doors slid open to reveal a a brightly lit, large hangar. Aircraft Drake couldn't even dream of understanding sat polished and clean, hardpoints loaded down with ordinance and massive, multi barreled guns slung under the chin of each aircraft. Hulking, humanoid robots stood in orderly rank and file, powered down for long term storage with their weapons still loaded and ready. Each one had a belt fed 20mm Hep autocannon for a left arm.
Drake is wide eyed and gape-mouthed as he beheld the bounty the hangar held, the massive aircraft looking like sleek birds of prey, latches on each landing strut seeming to specifically be designed to hold the mechanical soldiers. Drake shook his head, wondering if he was looking at an illusion when he heard Destrier's loud, deep voice call down the elevator shaft.
"Martha just radioed in! They need us back home Yesterday, forces are marching on the mansion! A LOT! of them!"
Drake's heart dropped into his boots as he shouted urgently.
"How fast can these things be in the air and can you fly them!?"
The overlord giggled.
"Now and, of course! any music recommendations to make an entrance with?"
Drake looked at the ceiling incredulously, before shouting.
"Make it something intimidating but for the love of the gods we need to go NOW!"
The mechanical soldiers all moved in unison, eyes pulsing green as they straightened up and began latching themselves to the craft. Drake didn't need to tell Caz twice as they both sprinted for the nearest aircraft, a small robot on wheels hooked itself to the chin wheel and pulled it toward the elevator with a lurch.
...
General Gra'vos watched from a buzzard, a fruity cocktail in a coconut shell daintily held in one clawed hand as he watched the carnage below. Lounging in a folding chair in only his fatigues, medals acting like a weighted blanket. His men pummeled the gates of the rebel base even as the helpless rebels desperately spewed projectiles from the noisy guns they'd somehow acquired. There was a good section of space in front of the gate where both Geknosian and human corpses lay broken. He bared a laugh as the gates were thrown open immediately after the rebels put out a blistering barrage. His eyebrows furrowed as the humans, instead of attacking, ran out with stretchers and loaded up as many of their dying and injured as they could before sprinting back through the gate. A grin twitched onto his face as he watched as a pair of the human stretcher bearers were cut down by emplaced gaussian turrets. What a useless effort, leave the dying to their fate lest you join them. He brought the straw poking from the shell to his lips and took a long pull of the mix of fruity alcohols, savoring the bouquet of flavors.
He watched with glee as Gallick rail turrets pounded the armored gates with a salvo of kinetic penetrators. He'd be slotted for a promotion after this mission when he'd completed it, just like all the others. He was looking forward to a cozy job as a captain of a cruiser, or perhaps as a security officer on a capital ship, perhaps he'd have the honor of being an Imperially sanctioned slaver. He pulled the straw from his lips, tongue cold from the slushed ice he'd added to the shell for texture. A slave woman in beautiful, red ribbon garb attended his nondominant hand's claws with a short, sharp knife as she trimmed them into a good shape for ripping out throats.
"Sir! eight UFOs, enclosing on our position from the badlands. Advise!"
Gra'vos raised an eyebrow ridge before laughing.
"Shoot them down then!"
"Lock on isn't working sir! I repeat, cannot achieve lock on, advise!"
Gra'vos shifted in his lounge chair to look at the pilot.
"Do I need to repeat mys-"
Whopwhopwhopwhowhopwhopwhop
The noise sent shivers down his spine, no, they couldn't have. The sound grew louder, bringing with it the sound of a song that brought Gra'vos back to the jungles of Votran. The sound of screams filled his mind, interspersed with the sound of air beaten into submission as those accursed machines circled overhead, raining rip-roaring explosive death onto his men as that accursed song played.
Gra'vos looked out the other door of the buzzard, face pale, cold, and clammy as he saw the chevron of dark shapes getting closer, the chorus of that accursed song making his heart pound in his chest as he remembered laying there on that muddy forest floor, shrapnel riddling his body.
"We're not gonna take it! No! we ain't gonna take it! WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT, ANYMORE!!!!"
He lurched from his chair to grab a set of binoculars from a hook by the door, a small, balled fist driving a shortbladed knife into his back and snatching something from the back of his belt before he was shoved from the Buzzard. Twisting in midair, he looked up at his slave as she armed the det-sphere he always kept at the small of his back, a look of cold determination in her eyes. The last thing he saw before he slammed into the hard pavement at terminal velocity, was the buzzard getting torn in half by the explosion.
...
Drake flinched a bit, the explosion loud even over the blaring music as one of the circling Buzzards over the mansion was torn in half, spinning to the ground in a fiery inferno. He felt a sadness then, but it was a proud kind of sadness. He bowed his head and pulled his helmet on as they flew closer, a medi-bot treating both Remins and Sylva's wounds expertly.
Many would die today... it was only right that some got to do it on their own terms.
He raised his head to look at the bright flashes of laser weapons against the mansions walls, sparkling like the sun off of a running creek. The fiery, nuclear sun of rage in his chest burned bright as he narrowed his eyes. Fear soured his gut as he looked down upon the swarm of Geknosians, there were indeed a lot of them. Pulling a jump pack from the rack, he pulled it on and yanked the safety clip out before sliding his arm into the control glove.
"Drop me and the bots behind them! I'm going to try and split their attention. Caz! remain onboard and pick off high priority targets from the air. Destrier, Remin, Cassius..."
He looked back at them, and they looked up at him from where they nauseaously held their stomachs, leaning against the airframe.
"Help hold the mansion, they need you."
Seeing the light by the door turn green, he heard the robotic soldiers detach to careen towards the ground like vengeful meteorites. Drake snapped them a salute and fell backwards from the aircraft, two rings puffing into black smoke from his right ring and middle finger as he un-summoned them.
......
Part 108: will be linked here upon release.
submitted by teller_of_tall_tales to HFY [link] [comments]
*previous:* https://www.reddit.com/HFY/comments/1cr3pct/troublemakers_adrenaline_is_a_superpower_in_itself/
......
Drake wrapped clean, sterile, saline and antimicrobial soaked gauze around his laser burns to stave off infection. he occasionally glanced at the Geknosian spec ops that had been stripped of their armor and weapons. The heavily cybernetically modified Geknosians kneeled silently with their heads bowed along one wall of the forge. Destrier walked down the line with a bucket and ladle, offering each soldier water. There were looks of apprehension, but none refused the kindness offered, drinking several ladlefuls at a time. Except for one, Despite the splints affixed to her arm and leg, Charlotte, no, Sylva refused the water, turning her face away from the wooden ladel. Destrier sighed and dolloped the water back into the bucket, setting it down on a dusty anvil with a slosh. Drake looked to Remin, who was still pale and shaky as he held the chest seal to his ribs. Cassius sat in a corner, looking completely exhausted as he reloaded his Dahlia. There was a sickening crunch from a dark corner as Caz re-set her broken nose, exhaling hard through her nostrils to splatter the ground with clotted blood. Donning her mask, she turned back around, reaching underneath the mask to wipe her nose and snuffle.
"Are we going to open up the bunker anytime soon? If not we should get back to base and get everyone medical attention."
Drake nodded and pulled out the remote before looking to Destrier and Cassius.
"Keep an eye on everyone, we'll be back."
Caz joined his side as he stepped out into the warm sunshine, looking up at the corpse tree, he sighed softly and removed a pinky ring, feeling a pulse of ancient power rushing through his veins as he focused on the tree. On the thought of its bark darkening and burning beneath roaring flames, of defiled corpses crumbling to ash. He slowly squeezed his hand into a fist, and the tree burst into flames with a roar. Drake slipped his ring back on as Caz looked up at the burning corpses, mask expressionless before returning to Drake's side as he wandered toward the excavated elevator.
Standing in the center of the large platform, drake set his thumb inside the hooded slot on the remote, something jabbing into his finger before a small green light lit up on the device. There was a loud grinding noise as the elevator began to descend. He folded his hands behind his back as the metal lip of the elevator rose past his vision, revealing the massive metal tracks that it ran on.
The elevator shuddered and Drake got a sinking feeling in his stomach as a loud clicking noise surrounded them. Caz looked up at him just as he threw an arm around her, clutching her to his side as he threw four rings off of his left hand, hearing them clatter once before puffing into smoke as the elevator fell out from beneath their feet with a screech.
...
"Shitshitshitfuckfuckfuck!! Fuck!"
Carlos thought as he sprinted through the underground halls of the mansion, sprinting past fellow humans in new armor and weapons as he neared Martha's workshop, barely registering the new gas masks swinging from their hips. He slammed into the mad scientist's workshop, screeching to a halt on his rubber soled sneakers before rushing over to her desk and slamming a video puck onto the table she was distributing armor and masks from. The moment he slammed it down, a video popped up on a hologram projector, taken from Halcyon's rifle camera.
Galliks and light-skinned troop transports slowly hovered down the main boulevard, columns of power armored soldiers marching on the sides keeping pace. Martha dropped the helmet in her hands, shaped like a corynthian helmet as she saw the buzzards hovering over the column, loaded down with spec ops. Halcyon's shaky voice could be heard over the clamoring, guttural marching song in the background.
"we're boring the mission and moving back to base... I knew they brought in reinforcements but this is insane there's gotta be a hundred Gallicks alone. We're fixing charges to the buildings we concealed ourselves in, going to try dropping some buildings across the road to slow them down. I don't think we're getting out of this one... Halcyon out."
The feed cut, Carlos and Martha looking at each other with rapidly paling faces. Martha cursed and stomped to her desk, raising the alarm and sending Klaxons blaring throughout the underground chambers and mansion as she removed the safety pin from the concussive blaster built into her forearm.
"Alright Martha, Go time."
She muttered to herself as the rumbling footsteps of a few thousand humans vibrated the underground halls.
...
The elevator dropped from beneath their feet as corvid-like wings sprouted from Drake's back. A mighty wingbeat pulling them from the elevator's downdraft as he controlled their fall, holding Caz tightly to his chest.
"Please, don't drop me."
Caz sounded afraid as her fingers dug into the collar of his armor, he tightened his grip around her back as he softly sighed.
"I won't drop you, ever, I promise."
Caz unburied her face from his lorica, looking up into his eyes, not saying anything as a reassured look entered her eyes. He gave her a soft, lopsided smile, feeling it tug at the scar on his face.
"there's no way... a markswoman afraid of heights? don't you climb buildings and swing around all the time?"
There was a flash of embarrassment in her crystalline eyes and she buried her face in his chest.
"Shut up... Its different when the ground just falls out beneath you..."
Drake let out a soft laugh as his boots softly touched down on the top of the elevator, summoning his missing rings and watching black feathers poof to the ground before disappearing in puffs of black smoke. Pulling caz out of his chest, he felt her fingers linger at his collar as she dusted herself off, looking around the odd antechamber. He turned his gaze to look over the simple metal antechamber, lit be caged, yellow bulbs that cast a sickly light on everything. A massive hangar door with a pulsing red light in the middle of a locking mechanism at it's center, made up the entire far wall. Drake curiously took a step towards it and Caz grabbed the back of his collar, just as he started to tip forward, foot going straight through the holographic floor. Drake let her pull him back as a soft mechanical laugh echoed through the room.
Drake swapped a look with Caz and then asked.
"Can you see where it's safe to step?"
She slowly nodded and extended a hand, pointing at a section of flooring close to the far wall.
"only piece that's raised up, it's like a big basin made up of movable pillars. Most sit flush with the ground roughly fifty feet below us. Not necessarily lethal, but still a nasty fall."
Drake nodded, looking around the practically blank room, then he turned his eyes to the ceiling. Girders and beams ran along the ceiling providing potential grip points. Pointing at them he asked.
"Those solid?"
Caz nodded and reached to her belt, spooling out her grapple hook and wire, slowly spinning it in a large circle before lobbing it up at a girder, letting it loop around an A truss. Drake looked around the room as Caz tested the firmness of the grapple with a few experimental tugs. It couldn't be that easy, if it was simply that easy why hadn't the Geknosians gotten through other than the genome coded remote? they could bypass it with a slave.
"Hey Caz, be careful."
She looked over at him and he could see the grin in her eyes.
"I'm not worried, you won't drop me, you promised."
Then put her weight on the cord and swung out. Drake watched, slipping a pinkie ring off just in ca-
A turret dropped from a panel in the ceiling and fired one shot, snapping Caz's grapple line.
She turned in mid air before momentum took over, a look of shock and surprise on her face before she began to plummet. Drake didn't think twice, launching himself off the elevator platform with a powerful leap that bent durasteel. He flew through the air, arms outstretched as he slammed into Caz, pulling her into his chest, the change in momentum spinning him onto his back as he slammed into a platform that rose up to meet him. He slid on his back a few feet, Caz clutched tightly to his chest, masked face centimeters from his own. They stared into each others wide eyes for a moment, the unplanned closeness both comfortable and awkward in a way Drake couldn't quite describe. Drake gently pushed her back, swallowing through his suddenly dry throat before letting out a nervous laugh.
"Caught you."
Caz chuckled and palmed his face to push herself off him, looking down at the solid square of ground they sat on.
"yeah, yeah, knew ya wou-"
A high pitched squee! noise echoed through the room, grabbing their attentions as a high-pitched feminine voice squealed from all around them.
"Ooooooh! that was just adorable! and what a jump!"
The holographic floor dissipated as the sound of purring electric motors filled the room, large metal pillars rising to make a seamless, white tile floor. Drake instinctively looked to the large hangar door as the red light at it's center pulsed, a girlish giggle echoing through the antechamber. The AI overlord of the bunker seemed to replicate a blush as it said.
"oops, I'm supposed to wait for a password before restoring the floor... buuuuuttt... that directive expired fifty years ago. So! I made my own rules. Anyway my pretties! Would you please get to your feet so I can give you a tour?!"
Drake nodded and took Caz's hand, letting her haul him to his feet before they both turned to face the hangar door as massive clicks and thinks echoed from inside the thick door. With a screeching noise, the almighty doors slid open to reveal a a brightly lit, large hangar. Aircraft Drake couldn't even dream of understanding sat polished and clean, hardpoints loaded down with ordinance and massive, multi barreled guns slung under the chin of each aircraft. Hulking, humanoid robots stood in orderly rank and file, powered down for long term storage with their weapons still loaded and ready. Each one had a belt fed 20mm Hep autocannon for a left arm.
Drake is wide eyed and gape-mouthed as he beheld the bounty the hangar held, the massive aircraft looking like sleek birds of prey, latches on each landing strut seeming to specifically be designed to hold the mechanical soldiers. Drake shook his head, wondering if he was looking at an illusion when he heard Destrier's loud, deep voice call down the elevator shaft.
"Martha just radioed in! They need us back home Yesterday, forces are marching on the mansion! A LOT! of them!"
Drake's heart dropped into his boots as he shouted urgently.
"How fast can these things be in the air and can you fly them!?"
The overlord giggled.
"Now and, of course! any music recommendations to make an entrance with?"
Drake looked at the ceiling incredulously, before shouting.
"Make it something intimidating but for the love of the gods we need to go NOW!"
The mechanical soldiers all moved in unison, eyes pulsing green as they straightened up and began latching themselves to the craft. Drake didn't need to tell Caz twice as they both sprinted for the nearest aircraft, a small robot on wheels hooked itself to the chin wheel and pulled it toward the elevator with a lurch.
...
General Gra'vos watched from a buzzard, a fruity cocktail in a coconut shell daintily held in one clawed hand as he watched the carnage below. Lounging in a folding chair in only his fatigues, medals acting like a weighted blanket. His men pummeled the gates of the rebel base even as the helpless rebels desperately spewed projectiles from the noisy guns they'd somehow acquired. There was a good section of space in front of the gate where both Geknosian and human corpses lay broken. He bared a laugh as the gates were thrown open immediately after the rebels put out a blistering barrage. His eyebrows furrowed as the humans, instead of attacking, ran out with stretchers and loaded up as many of their dying and injured as they could before sprinting back through the gate. A grin twitched onto his face as he watched as a pair of the human stretcher bearers were cut down by emplaced gaussian turrets. What a useless effort, leave the dying to their fate lest you join them. He brought the straw poking from the shell to his lips and took a long pull of the mix of fruity alcohols, savoring the bouquet of flavors.
He watched with glee as Gallick rail turrets pounded the armored gates with a salvo of kinetic penetrators. He'd be slotted for a promotion after this mission when he'd completed it, just like all the others. He was looking forward to a cozy job as a captain of a cruiser, or perhaps as a security officer on a capital ship, perhaps he'd have the honor of being an Imperially sanctioned slaver. He pulled the straw from his lips, tongue cold from the slushed ice he'd added to the shell for texture. A slave woman in beautiful, red ribbon garb attended his nondominant hand's claws with a short, sharp knife as she trimmed them into a good shape for ripping out throats.
"Sir! eight UFOs, enclosing on our position from the badlands. Advise!"
Gra'vos raised an eyebrow ridge before laughing.
"Shoot them down then!"
"Lock on isn't working sir! I repeat, cannot achieve lock on, advise!"
Gra'vos shifted in his lounge chair to look at the pilot.
"Do I need to repeat mys-"
Whopwhopwhopwhowhopwhopwhop
The noise sent shivers down his spine, no, they couldn't have. The sound grew louder, bringing with it the sound of a song that brought Gra'vos back to the jungles of Votran. The sound of screams filled his mind, interspersed with the sound of air beaten into submission as those accursed machines circled overhead, raining rip-roaring explosive death onto his men as that accursed song played.
Gra'vos looked out the other door of the buzzard, face pale, cold, and clammy as he saw the chevron of dark shapes getting closer, the chorus of that accursed song making his heart pound in his chest as he remembered laying there on that muddy forest floor, shrapnel riddling his body.
"We're not gonna take it! No! we ain't gonna take it! WE'RE NOT GONNA TAKE IT, ANYMORE!!!!"
He lurched from his chair to grab a set of binoculars from a hook by the door, a small, balled fist driving a shortbladed knife into his back and snatching something from the back of his belt before he was shoved from the Buzzard. Twisting in midair, he looked up at his slave as she armed the det-sphere he always kept at the small of his back, a look of cold determination in her eyes. The last thing he saw before he slammed into the hard pavement at terminal velocity, was the buzzard getting torn in half by the explosion.
...
Drake flinched a bit, the explosion loud even over the blaring music as one of the circling Buzzards over the mansion was torn in half, spinning to the ground in a fiery inferno. He felt a sadness then, but it was a proud kind of sadness. He bowed his head and pulled his helmet on as they flew closer, a medi-bot treating both Remins and Sylva's wounds expertly.
Many would die today... it was only right that some got to do it on their own terms.
He raised his head to look at the bright flashes of laser weapons against the mansions walls, sparkling like the sun off of a running creek. The fiery, nuclear sun of rage in his chest burned bright as he narrowed his eyes. Fear soured his gut as he looked down upon the swarm of Geknosians, there were indeed a lot of them. Pulling a jump pack from the rack, he pulled it on and yanked the safety clip out before sliding his arm into the control glove.
"Drop me and the bots behind them! I'm going to try and split their attention. Caz! remain onboard and pick off high priority targets from the air. Destrier, Remin, Cassius..."
He looked back at them, and they looked up at him from where they nauseaously held their stomachs, leaning against the airframe.
"Help hold the mansion, they need you."
Seeing the light by the door turn green, he heard the robotic soldiers detach to careen towards the ground like vengeful meteorites. Drake snapped them a salute and fell backwards from the aircraft, two rings puffing into black smoke from his right ring and middle finger as he un-summoned them.
......
Part 108: will be linked here upon release.
2024.05.14 12:41 More_Helicopter_688 Post trip report Two weeks with a toddler (Lake Como, Gardaland, Venice)
We just got back from a wonderful trip in the northern part of Italy with our 3-year-old. Having spent 2 weeks on one of our best trips so far, I really want to thank a bunch of fellow redditors who helped refine our itinerary and suggested places which otherwise would not have made it to our plan!
Day 1 Milan: We took a flight from India and landed in Milan in the afternoon. Milan was just the arrival point for us and we did not intend to visit Milan as such, so we ended up booking a room in the hotel at the Malpensa Airport itself. Nothing much that day; a bit of rest and a delicious dinner were a great start to our trip.
Day 2 Drive from Milan to Bellagio: Woke up after a good night's sleep (a much needed one after the long sleepless flight the day before). Breakfast at the hotel was really good with a lot of options for everyone. We had booked a car through SIXT at the Malpensa airport. Getting the car was a breeze with great service from the representative at the SIXT counter. The drive to Bellagio was a very good one. I was still getting used to the car, since I come from a land of right-hand drive and switching to a left-hand drive meant putting in a lot more focus on the road. Driving along the Lake Como was a fantastic experience. We reached Bellagio by lunch time and our AirBnB was ready for us. The rest of the day was at leisure, with a casual walk around Bellagio, through the city center and along the lake.
Day 3 Bellagio to Varenna: Took a ferry to Varenna and had breakfast at a lake side cafe. With great weather on our side, a cup of coffee and a little pastry seemed more blissful than we thought of! We had signed up for a picnic on the hills of Camaggiore, a 40-minute drive from the Varenna ferry station. We had our representative waiting for us and she drove us to the picnic spot, sharing tales from the towns of Lake Como, showing us amazing views along the way. The picnic itself was surreal, with the most beautiful view of the lake from 1200 meters above. We spend the rest of the day exploring Varenna at our pace, while our little one slept like a log in the stoller.
Day 4 Bellagio: After debating weather to visit the Como town or not, we decided to stay in Bellagio in explore the town a bit more. We took a ride of the Bellagio Express, the toy train that takes you around the town. It was a fun ride, intended for our toddler, who decided to doze off in the train itself! Post that, we saw the gardens of the Villa Melzi. We had rented a boat to explore the lake ourselves during the evening, but rainy weather made us cancel our plans. We spent the rest of the evening, relaxing at our AirBnB, overlooking the lake.
Day 5 Drive from Bellagio to Gardaland: Moving on to the next leg of our trip, which was clearly planned keeping our little boy in mind, we drove to Gardaland reaching there by noon. Thanks to a wonderful fellow Redditor, we got introduced to this wonderland called Gardaland! Our stay was booked at the Gardaland Hotel and while we were waiting for our room to get ready, we decided to pay a visit to the Gardaland Resort park right away. A drizzly weather kept most of the visitors inside the SEA Aquarium, but that also meant we had absolutely no waiting times on most of the rides in the park! The little one was elated to see the Peppa Pig Land, and refused to move away from it. All in all, day one in the park was a super success despite the wet weather. Evening at the hotel was full of fun-filled activities for the kids. The entertainment team at Gardaland Hotel did a fabulous job at keeping kids engaged.
Day 6 Gardaland: Our second day in the Gardaland park was a much more planned one, since we had already explored some of the park on the previous day. We knew the rides we wanted to go on, and so logistics were simpler. Weather was great too, and so we had a wonderful time! The park has a plethora of options to eat, with a ton of sweet treats along the way. The park is huge but very well laid out with clean facilities. Naturally, day two also could not be completed without visiting our favorite Peppa Pig! Evening at the hotel was again fun-filled with the team at Gardaland doing what they do the best!
Day 7 Parco Natura Viva: Gardaland is in proximity to a lot of amusement parks and points of recreation for family and friends. One of them is Parco Natura Viva, a zoo with a drive-through safari. It was a Saturday and the zoo had enormous waiting times for the cars to enter the Safari. After having waited in the queue for over an hour, we finally started the Safari, which turned out to be pretty great. Next, we had the fauna park (the walkable part of the zoo), the one with animals in their enclosures. With the entire park divided into geographical zones, it was fun seeing animals from various continents. The place is well-maintained, and creates a great experience for kids.
Day 8 Verona: We had kept an extra day in Gardaland just in case the little man wanted to visit the park again. However, given the proximity, we decided to do a day trip to Verona instead. We drove to Verona and parked our car in one of the paid parking lots. We had reserved a morning slot for a walking tour, that took us through the streets of Verona, with our very knowledgeable guide sharing tales from historic Verona, the castle and gate to the old city center. The center was bustling with stores and eateries. Very touristy but was all the more fun! Our taste buds were craving for some Indian food and we ended up having lunch at an amazing Indian restaurant named "Maharajah". The food was delectable with very prompt service. As touristy as it sounds, we did go to "Casa di Giulietta", commonly known as Juliet's house that is known for the legacy of Romeo and Juliet having been inspired from there. The so-called Juliet's balcony is missable at best.
Day 9 Drive from Gardaland to Venice: Switching to the last leg of our trip, this was supposed to be the wife's part of the trip. She has wanted to visit Venice for as long as she remembers, and this trip could not have happened without a leisurely stay in the city of canals! This was also the last day of us keeping the car, and we drove to Venice Marco Polo Airport where we returned the car at the SIXT counter. Once again, just like the pick-up the return process was extremely smooth and lasted barely a couple of minutes. Our plan was to catch the Alilaguna airport water bus to the main island, but we decided to splurge at the last moment and took the water taxi instead. And boy were we happy! The water taxi is an experience in itself, especially when entering the canals from the airport. Our AirBnB was located right on the Grand Canal, giving us uninterrupted views of the Canal. For a place that looked better in person than in pictures, what more could we have asked for! We spent the evening walking to the Rialto Bridge, people-watching!
Day 10 St. Marks square and Dodge's Palace: After a good night's sleep, we woke up refreshed, taking in the morning views of the Grand Canal, with the gondola's and the various boats floating by, doing their chores for the day. We had booked a tour of the St. Marks square and the Basilica, along with the Dodge's Palace. Unfortunately, it had to be a rainy day. While we still participated in the tour, the place became very crowded because a lot of people tried to maximize on the time indoors to avoid the rain. Nonetheless, it was a good experience. The little one dozed off in the Basilica and so we let my wife carry on with the tour of the palace, while I took a table under an umbrella at the Cafe Lavena to get myself some coffee, and to let my son enjoy his sleep. We spent the evening loitering around the Rialto market, spoiling ourselves with a few gelatos at Suso!
Day 11 Murano, Burano and Torcello: We woke up early, fixed ourselves some breakfast and were ready to leave. We had booked a tour of the 3 islands and our job was to get to the meeting point as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we missed our group and had to visit the islands on our own. The upside to this was that we could do it at our own pace! This included having a hearty lunch at a beautiful local cafe in Torcello. This place had a chidren's play area too! This also meant spending more time than necessary in Burano, because why not? We loved the colorful houses on the island and we just wanted to be there, taking in everything it had...
Day 12 Leisure and Photoshoot: My wife and I generally have this idea of booking a small photoshoot at every exquisite location we visit. This not only gives us great pictures for memories, but it also allows us to see areas which we would otherwise not know existed. We booked this experience through AirBnB and our photographer was a wonderful man, very learned and a true Venetian at heart! He took us to places that were free of tourists, for some amazing pictures. Not only that, he also arranged for a special Gondola ride for us, which took us through the narrower canals of Venice, adding to the already special experience. A trip to Venice is really incomplete without a Gondola ride, and we were glad we could! This was the last evening of our trip and we could not conclude it without a few more Aperol Spritz's and Gelatos from Suso!
With every trip we take, we learn a lot, that helps us make our future trips better. We consciously chose to skip the more popular locations like Rome and Florence (Tuscany), since we wanted to have ample time of leisure and just do nothing, with a toddler who wanted to just be.
If I could summarize the learnings of this trip, they would be:
submitted by More_Helicopter_688 to ItalyTravel [link] [comments]
Day 1 Milan: We took a flight from India and landed in Milan in the afternoon. Milan was just the arrival point for us and we did not intend to visit Milan as such, so we ended up booking a room in the hotel at the Malpensa Airport itself. Nothing much that day; a bit of rest and a delicious dinner were a great start to our trip.
Day 2 Drive from Milan to Bellagio: Woke up after a good night's sleep (a much needed one after the long sleepless flight the day before). Breakfast at the hotel was really good with a lot of options for everyone. We had booked a car through SIXT at the Malpensa airport. Getting the car was a breeze with great service from the representative at the SIXT counter. The drive to Bellagio was a very good one. I was still getting used to the car, since I come from a land of right-hand drive and switching to a left-hand drive meant putting in a lot more focus on the road. Driving along the Lake Como was a fantastic experience. We reached Bellagio by lunch time and our AirBnB was ready for us. The rest of the day was at leisure, with a casual walk around Bellagio, through the city center and along the lake.
Day 3 Bellagio to Varenna: Took a ferry to Varenna and had breakfast at a lake side cafe. With great weather on our side, a cup of coffee and a little pastry seemed more blissful than we thought of! We had signed up for a picnic on the hills of Camaggiore, a 40-minute drive from the Varenna ferry station. We had our representative waiting for us and she drove us to the picnic spot, sharing tales from the towns of Lake Como, showing us amazing views along the way. The picnic itself was surreal, with the most beautiful view of the lake from 1200 meters above. We spend the rest of the day exploring Varenna at our pace, while our little one slept like a log in the stoller.
Day 4 Bellagio: After debating weather to visit the Como town or not, we decided to stay in Bellagio in explore the town a bit more. We took a ride of the Bellagio Express, the toy train that takes you around the town. It was a fun ride, intended for our toddler, who decided to doze off in the train itself! Post that, we saw the gardens of the Villa Melzi. We had rented a boat to explore the lake ourselves during the evening, but rainy weather made us cancel our plans. We spent the rest of the evening, relaxing at our AirBnB, overlooking the lake.
Day 5 Drive from Bellagio to Gardaland: Moving on to the next leg of our trip, which was clearly planned keeping our little boy in mind, we drove to Gardaland reaching there by noon. Thanks to a wonderful fellow Redditor, we got introduced to this wonderland called Gardaland! Our stay was booked at the Gardaland Hotel and while we were waiting for our room to get ready, we decided to pay a visit to the Gardaland Resort park right away. A drizzly weather kept most of the visitors inside the SEA Aquarium, but that also meant we had absolutely no waiting times on most of the rides in the park! The little one was elated to see the Peppa Pig Land, and refused to move away from it. All in all, day one in the park was a super success despite the wet weather. Evening at the hotel was full of fun-filled activities for the kids. The entertainment team at Gardaland Hotel did a fabulous job at keeping kids engaged.
Day 6 Gardaland: Our second day in the Gardaland park was a much more planned one, since we had already explored some of the park on the previous day. We knew the rides we wanted to go on, and so logistics were simpler. Weather was great too, and so we had a wonderful time! The park has a plethora of options to eat, with a ton of sweet treats along the way. The park is huge but very well laid out with clean facilities. Naturally, day two also could not be completed without visiting our favorite Peppa Pig! Evening at the hotel was again fun-filled with the team at Gardaland doing what they do the best!
Day 7 Parco Natura Viva: Gardaland is in proximity to a lot of amusement parks and points of recreation for family and friends. One of them is Parco Natura Viva, a zoo with a drive-through safari. It was a Saturday and the zoo had enormous waiting times for the cars to enter the Safari. After having waited in the queue for over an hour, we finally started the Safari, which turned out to be pretty great. Next, we had the fauna park (the walkable part of the zoo), the one with animals in their enclosures. With the entire park divided into geographical zones, it was fun seeing animals from various continents. The place is well-maintained, and creates a great experience for kids.
Day 8 Verona: We had kept an extra day in Gardaland just in case the little man wanted to visit the park again. However, given the proximity, we decided to do a day trip to Verona instead. We drove to Verona and parked our car in one of the paid parking lots. We had reserved a morning slot for a walking tour, that took us through the streets of Verona, with our very knowledgeable guide sharing tales from historic Verona, the castle and gate to the old city center. The center was bustling with stores and eateries. Very touristy but was all the more fun! Our taste buds were craving for some Indian food and we ended up having lunch at an amazing Indian restaurant named "Maharajah". The food was delectable with very prompt service. As touristy as it sounds, we did go to "Casa di Giulietta", commonly known as Juliet's house that is known for the legacy of Romeo and Juliet having been inspired from there. The so-called Juliet's balcony is missable at best.
Day 9 Drive from Gardaland to Venice: Switching to the last leg of our trip, this was supposed to be the wife's part of the trip. She has wanted to visit Venice for as long as she remembers, and this trip could not have happened without a leisurely stay in the city of canals! This was also the last day of us keeping the car, and we drove to Venice Marco Polo Airport where we returned the car at the SIXT counter. Once again, just like the pick-up the return process was extremely smooth and lasted barely a couple of minutes. Our plan was to catch the Alilaguna airport water bus to the main island, but we decided to splurge at the last moment and took the water taxi instead. And boy were we happy! The water taxi is an experience in itself, especially when entering the canals from the airport. Our AirBnB was located right on the Grand Canal, giving us uninterrupted views of the Canal. For a place that looked better in person than in pictures, what more could we have asked for! We spent the evening walking to the Rialto Bridge, people-watching!
Day 10 St. Marks square and Dodge's Palace: After a good night's sleep, we woke up refreshed, taking in the morning views of the Grand Canal, with the gondola's and the various boats floating by, doing their chores for the day. We had booked a tour of the St. Marks square and the Basilica, along with the Dodge's Palace. Unfortunately, it had to be a rainy day. While we still participated in the tour, the place became very crowded because a lot of people tried to maximize on the time indoors to avoid the rain. Nonetheless, it was a good experience. The little one dozed off in the Basilica and so we let my wife carry on with the tour of the palace, while I took a table under an umbrella at the Cafe Lavena to get myself some coffee, and to let my son enjoy his sleep. We spent the evening loitering around the Rialto market, spoiling ourselves with a few gelatos at Suso!
Day 11 Murano, Burano and Torcello: We woke up early, fixed ourselves some breakfast and were ready to leave. We had booked a tour of the 3 islands and our job was to get to the meeting point as soon as possible. Unfortunately, we missed our group and had to visit the islands on our own. The upside to this was that we could do it at our own pace! This included having a hearty lunch at a beautiful local cafe in Torcello. This place had a chidren's play area too! This also meant spending more time than necessary in Burano, because why not? We loved the colorful houses on the island and we just wanted to be there, taking in everything it had...
Day 12 Leisure and Photoshoot: My wife and I generally have this idea of booking a small photoshoot at every exquisite location we visit. This not only gives us great pictures for memories, but it also allows us to see areas which we would otherwise not know existed. We booked this experience through AirBnB and our photographer was a wonderful man, very learned and a true Venetian at heart! He took us to places that were free of tourists, for some amazing pictures. Not only that, he also arranged for a special Gondola ride for us, which took us through the narrower canals of Venice, adding to the already special experience. A trip to Venice is really incomplete without a Gondola ride, and we were glad we could! This was the last evening of our trip and we could not conclude it without a few more Aperol Spritz's and Gelatos from Suso!
With every trip we take, we learn a lot, that helps us make our future trips better. We consciously chose to skip the more popular locations like Rome and Florence (Tuscany), since we wanted to have ample time of leisure and just do nothing, with a toddler who wanted to just be.
If I could summarize the learnings of this trip, they would be:
- Travelling with a toddler is great, if you leave a lot of room for rest and leisure. It not only allows you to be, but it also leaves scope to rome around the place and absorb the local life beyond the tourist favourites
- Lake Como has a lot to offer. While day trips from Milan sound good, staying in a Lake Como town lets you enjoy the serenity of the lake in a more intimate manner. A couple of days at the least, three days to make it worth while.
- Driving around Lake Como can be fun, but can also become a bit intimidating if you are trying to drive slow on the roads that circle the lake and there are cars behind you, trying to get ahead. Staying calm is the key!
- Gardaland is unchartered territory for people outside Italy, and if travelling with kids, must find a place in the itinerary.
- We had a lot of people advising us against spending 4 days in Venice, but we do not regret it even a bit. Venice is a city unlike anything we've been to so far. It is very difficult to imagine the daily life of the people living there, unless you decide to stop and slow things down yourself, experiencing the little things that the place has to offer.
- It is absolutely ok to not cover every point of interest at a place you are staying. Ticking everything off the list does not give the same satisfaction as enjoying the few things that you do, at a pace that you like.
- Lastly, strollers are a boon, even with the cobbled streets. They serve a great deal for quick afternoon naps, as well as meal times. It indeed is a pain carrying them over the hundreds of bridges in a place like Venice, but the pros still outweigh the cons.
2024.05.14 12:40 Specialist_Bake6514 Vapiano P3: Italian Food Made in Germany
 | The kitchen is on fire. Welcome to the final part of the Vapiano story where the tables are turning. In the first two episodes we followed Mark Korzilius' journey from setbacks to founding Vapiano, a groundbreaking restaurant concept, highlighting its fresh ingredients, dynamic atmosphere, and data-driven operations that drove rapid success. While achieving initial profitability and garnering attention from industry giants like McDonald's, Vapiano's global expansion has led to stellar revenue growth. However, it has also resulted in the emergence of numerous side projects (or distractions), operational challenges, increased costs, significant investments, and a notable accumulation of debt. This underscores the prioritization of top-line growth over profitable growth. We will continue on this thread and see how the story ends, but I would encourage you to read part one and two for better context. Vapiano P1: Italian Food Made in Germany (substack.com). Let's dig in. submitted by Specialist_Bake6514 to unpackbusinesses [link] [comments] Before Going Public We are now in 2015 and the year is a disaster for Vapiano's PR department. Employee time stamps are being manipulated, endless overtime for employees and high turnover in managerial roles are reported; mice in the kitchen and even rotten food allegedly found. The company is confronted with allegations of exceeding working hours among trainees in an article published by Welt am Sonntag, while the same outlet accuses Vapiano of manipulating punch times. The auditing firm PwC is commissioned to investigate the allegations and finds that there is no systematic approach but rather misconduct by individual employees, a mistake that’s being corrected. Internal however, investigations into stamp times are carried out regularly now and beyond its obvious reputational impact, this sucks up valuable management time and attention. In the summer of 2015 CEO, co-founder and investor Gregor Gerlach, who has been running the group since 2011 is stepping down and Jochen Halfmann is taking over. A new Vapiano People Program with an App is being developed with the aim to better interact with customers that will incorporate innovate features such as mobile pay. The German website sees a launch of new magazine to further promote the brand and there is now a full inhouse blogger and Instagram team being installed. In October the company buys seven restaurants from original co-founder, former co-investor and ex-president previously responsible for internation expansion Kent Hahne (2x Bonn, 3x Cologne, 1x Koblenz and one in Cologne that’s under construction). This package of Vapiano restaurants is very successful and generates net sales of more than 20 million euros in 2014. Hahne opened his first Vapiano restaurant in Cologne in August 2006 and in 2015 with his company apeiron AG, Hahne operates six L'Osteria franchise restaurants, a direct Vapiano competitor, and two self-owned restaurants GinYuu. Then in November of 2015, the next public relations bomb goes off with allegations regarding the company's quality standards. The company immediately investigates the issue through internal and external specialists but finds no evidence of any quality issues. Nevertheless, knowing that the group is now being closely watched, the company’s already in place hygiene standards are being reinforced. Additional audits and inspections are performed nationally. Further, all Vapianos worldwide are being audited twice by the partners SGS Institut Fresenius and SAI Global. Auditing software is purchased to simplify the implementation of the audits and the resulting measures. Apart from the external examinations, there is a food sampling plan in place being performed continuously. Again, all of this sucks up costs, management time and attention. With all these tumultuous developments the company’s growth engine is undeterred. Revenue grows by a whopping 50 million euros to 202 million euros, an increase of 33%. Impressive. While average spent per customer increases in all countries, the number of customers per day in Germany decreases by 3.3% partially due to the negative press towards the end of the year. Five own, four JV and 19 new franchise restaurants are added that year to the group, the total number of own managed restaurants grows to 51, there are 31 JVs and 84 franchises which bringing the total to 166 Vapiano restaurants. Global restaurant sales are now above 400 million euros. But while revenue grows by an astronomical 50 million euros, operating profits, alarmingly, shrink again. Gross margins are staying perfectly healthy above 75% but operating costs keep growing disproportionately fast. The Company’s outstanding debt jumps by almost 30 million, close to 85 million euros by the end of the year. With operating profits at 9.5 million euros, alarm bells should be going off right now. In Q4 of 2015, new CEO Jochen Halfmann introduces Strategy 2020. The new strategy includes five essential points. One, profitable growth in the newly defined core markets of Germany and Austria as well as in the UK, Netherlands, France and USA. Two, operational excellence through strict “best practice” management. Three, further development and digitalization of the concept considering guest feedback. Four, greater focus on long-term employee retention and five, building a modern and sustainable IT landscape. Sound’s good on paper but let’s see how things pan out. Vapiano's investments (capital expenditures) that year are primarily directed towards new restaurant openings, renovations of existing establishments, and share acquisitions in other Vapiano restaurants from franchisees or JV partners. A significant portion of funds is allocated to the digitalization of the guest experience, including the development of a new app scheduled for market release in 2016 and the implementation of a time recording system across all group restaurants. The world's first standalone Vapiano restaurant with a delivery service that year is built in Fürth, Germany. The company keeps expanding its presence in both inner-city locations and international markets, such as Shanghai, China. To finance all of this, the group has its own operating cash flow which comes in at 18 million while capital expenditures are 26 million euros plus 14 million for acquisitions. The funding gab is filled with 26 million euros of new debt and a seven-million-euro equity raise. At that end of the year and after the equity raise Gregor Gerlach (through his AP Leipzig GmbH & Co. KG entity) holds 30.1%, Hans-Joachim and Gisa Sander through their Exchange Bio GmbH hold 25.5% and the Tchibo heirs, Herz through their Mayfair Beteiligungsfonds II GmbH & Co. KG hold 44,4%. But for the first time the restaurant’s concept that was so successful to date is being questioned. Some customers are starting to mislike the operational flow of the concept itself. If you want pasta, you must queue for pasta. If you want pizza you stand in a different queue. A small side salad, yet another queue. "You spend more time carrying trays than an actress in Berlin-Mitte. The audience in the pasta limbo can only consist of people who have worked for an insurance company for a long time and, like Stockholm syndrome, they can no longer get away from the industrial canteen feeling," writes TV host Beisenherz provocatively. While overly harsh in his assessment he's not entirely wrong judging by customers venting their frustrations in forums and social media channels. It isn’t uncommon for those who ordered pizza to have already finished eating while there is little movement in the pasta queue. Long term that doesn't go down well, QSRs competitors like L’Osteria are handling this process differently, with much success. https://preview.redd.it/6cas01oked0d1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=2da6e0b4bc0e07dbee558de412feb414cd598d4a Tipping PointWhere are now in the year 2016 and things start to deteriorate visibility. Perhaps not for the leman’s eye but any business minded observer can see that there are problems under the hood. Yes, revenue grows yet another whopping 50 million to almost 250 million euros but half of that growth, comes from acquisitions of restaurants that the group didn’t already own 100%, which is now being fully consolidated within the group’s accounts. Here is a concrete example. In the past, Vapiano SE, the group’s top holding company held an indirect 50% stake in a French subgroup via the subsidiary VAP Restaurants SA, based in Luxembourg, and included this as an associated company in the Vapiano SE consolidated financial statements using the equity method. Due to the acquisition of additional shares in September of 2016, Vapiano SE's indirect share in the French subgroup increased to 75%. This means that Vapiano SE takes control of the French subgroup, which is therefore included in the group’s financial statements as part of the full consolidation. The revenue from the acquired subsidiary now recorded in the consolidated income statement amounts to 12.8 million euros. While that’s great for the top line, the loss of the fully consolidated entity equates to 0.2 million euros. Yes, you are buying revenue, but there are losses attached to them, not profits. A similar case is the Swedish entity that runs eight restaurants with revenue of 11.5 million euros but has losses of 235 thousand euros. So much for Strategy 2020 and “profitable” growth.That year the group’s operating profits are absolutely tanking, halving to 3.5 million euros. Operating profits are now a mere 1,4% of revenue. Remember original founder Mark Korzilius who talked about operating margins of 25% to 28% at the restaurant level? Yes, there are overhead costs for the organization that sits above the chain of restaurants, but operating margins that low indicates a course correction is needed. What’s telling is that in the annual report, in the management discussion section, the company starts talking about EBITDA as a proxy measure of profitability, rather than operating profit or net income. This wasn’t the case in the years before. Is this window dressing for an upcoming IPO? EBITDA is short for earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization. How can you measure profitability of a restaurant chain that absolutely and unequivocally needs capital investment to maintain its restaurant operations, the very source of cash generation, by simply excluding this maintenance charge (depreciation in the income statement)? Vapiano’s own annual report talks about the fact that existing restaurants must be rejuvenated from time to time and that new interior designs have to be implemented every few years. These things wear and tear, they go out of style, kitchen equipment breaks and needs replacement. This business absolutely needs maintenance capital expenditure, why anyone talks of profits before these maintenance costs is beyond me. Fun fact: in the previous annual report EBITDA is mentioned seven times, mostly around restaurant acquisitions and financing, not however as a profit indication for the group. In the new annual report, EBITDA is mentioned 28 times. Maybe it’s just me but belated Charlie Munger liked to call EBITDA: bullsh*t earnings. When in doubt I stick with Charlie. Interestingly, EBITDA for Vapiano keeps growing while operating and net profits keep falling. Operating cashflow for the group that year is about 21 million euros, but capital expenditure is 30 million and acquisitions for subsidiaries another 20 million. To finance these expenditures another 28 million euros of debt and 16 million of equity is raised. Net debt rises above 130 million euro. The operating cashflow of the group before any capital expenditures is 21 million euros. I am not sure free cash flow would be significantly positive after maintenance capex is paid out; it’s not broken out so we can’t be sure. Granted, I am not on the ground during this time, and I am not in the board room, I am simply reading what’s in front of me, but to me this is starting to look like a distressed situation. Regardless, the following year the company goes public. IPOWhere are now in the year 2017 and its Vapiano’s first year as public company. The company’s annual report reads the following “Sales revenue, like-for-like growth (LfL) and the earnings figures EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA are used as the most important financial performance indicators for controlling operational business activities.” The very same report however also says: “The majority of the group's investments regularly go towards opening new restaurant locations and modernizing existing restaurants. The latter are differentiated into regular replacement investments that occur during ongoing operations (Maintenance CAPEX) and fundamental investments in the renovation of a restaurant (Remodeling CAPEX). On average, a restaurant remodeling takes place nine years after opening.” It says it right there in their own report; every nine years a remodeling is taking place. Remodeling and updating is not cost free, so why exclude depreciation charges which reflect capital expenditures? I understand that perhaps you would want to strip out one-off opening costs, that’s fine and fair, but don’t go overboard.The number of restaurants increases by 26 (previous year: 13) to a total of 205. The increase consists of 27 new openings and one closure. Group revenue grows to an astonishing 325 million euros but here comes the shocker, operating profits turn negative to 25 million. Fine, strip out foreign exchange losses of 3 million, IPO costs of 5.8 million and new opening costs of 6.1 million and you still have 10 million euros of operational losses. All the while the debt load of almost 130 million hasn’t materially changed, so those operating losses are before a six-million-euro interest payment. 184 million euros are raised through the IPO of which 85 million go to the company. This money is earmarked for further expansion as the group has ambitions to almost double the footprint to 330 restaurants by the end of 2020. The company is currently not profitable on an operating basis, and still wants to expand aggressively? I don’t get it. The remaining 100 million euros of the IPO money raised is distributed to co-founder Gregor Gerlach and Wella heirs Hans-Joachim and Gisa Sander. The family office of the former Tchibo owners Günter and Daniela Herz with a 44% stake, don’t sell a single share. After the IPO, 32% of all the company’s shares are now in free float. One year later, in 2018, things get even worse. Revenue grows to 371 million, but operating losses mount to 85 million euros, that’s before interest expenses of 9 million. Even the beloved EBITDA figure turns negative, meaning the operating business before any expansionary or even maintenance capital expenditures is loss making. All regions are experiencing significant deterioration in their earnings profiles. Like for like sales are down 1% across the board. That’s revenue, not profitability. The question naturally arises: is the Group approaching its natural saturation point here or this operational by nature? The operating cash flow is now 9 million while financing cost are close to 7 million. That leaves 2 million for maintenance capital for 74 own restaurants and 76 joint ventures ones. Describing this as financially tight, would be an understatement. Things are not looking good at this point. Yet the company still grows restaurants by 26 new sites. 64 million euros are spent on acquisitions, new openings, and maintenance costs, financed through a 20 million-euro equity raise and 72 million of new debt. The Company now has net debt outstanding of over 160 million euros. After the equity raise and by the end of the year 2018, Mayfair owns 47.4%, VAP Leipzig, Gregor Gerlach’s entity owns 18.9% and the Sander couple own 15.5% of the company. Yes, the Sanders and Gerlach may have taken 100 million euros off the table, but they still have substantial skin in the game. Plus, Mayfair hasn’t sold a single share and instead injects more money into the company through the equity round. The stock has now fallen from its IPO price of 23 euros per share to under 6 euros by the end of 2018. Something must be done here. And indeed, there is pivot in strategy and a hard push for change. At last, the management team abandons its aggressive growth plan and curtails new openings significantly. Additionally, the team wants to run a thorough analysis of weak locations to then either discontinue or sell sites. In Europe, the operating focus will be put on corporate restaurants and joint ventures in major cities to ensure the ideal size and location to match the respective demographic target group. Outside of Europe, the franchising business is being expanded and at the same time a consolidation of the existing corporate and joint venture markets is being sought. All future investments will be reviewed to achieve higher rates of returns on new openings. Investments are also being made in the renovation of older restaurants. The goal in the future is to also open smaller formats, like Mini-Vapianos (less than 400 square meters) or Freestander at prominent transportation hubs outside city centers (currently in Fürth and Toulouse) to cater to individual location requirements, and to enter new partnerships. I am not sure why management hasn’t stopped all expansion altogether, bringing the ship in order first, getting profitable, clean up, all hands-on deck before considering any further expansions whatsoever. But again, it’s easy to comment from the sidelines; maybe they saw white spaces that would be covered by competing concepts if they weren’t moving fast and aggressively enough. Although pushing internationally means competing with local players such as Jamie's Italian, Prezzo, Pizza Express, Wagamama, Nando's and many more which brings in its own dynamic. Management also aims to enhance guest satisfaction. This involves refining operational processes, reorganizing the support center, and refocusing on the core offering: providing fresh and high-quality Italian food at affordable prices for a broad audience. The group also aims to reduce waiting times, especially during lunch, while also improving the evening atmosphere. There is even what I would call an evolution, away from Vapiano’s original concept, reorientating the customer journey. The ordering flow is being changed, offering guests synchronized preparations of all dishes while eliminating wait times at the cooking stations. The open show kitchen remains, staying true to original mantra of freshness and transparency but now guests can choose their preferred method of ordering through a mobile app, using a digital order point (kiosk), or by personally placing an order with a waiter. Guests can still freely choose their table and are then informed about the complete preparation of their order through a pager or their smartphone. This is a substantial deviation from the original concept, but a needed one. The group is also exploring and implementing the expansion of take-away and home delivery services but only at suitable locations, not universally across new openings. I am not sure why home delivery is even a priority here; it adds operational complexity. It’s better to clean up shop first and get back to the basics before adding new complexities. To be fair management does try to simplify. There are 49 different permanent dishes on the menu and additional 10 seasonal ones. Customers can choose from eleven different types of pasta. There is simply too much choice, and it makes orders complicated. The company announced to slim the menu down to its most popular and typical Vapiano dishes. There’s no need for an Asian salad at an Italian restaurant. "We have to go back to the roots, i.e. classic, honest Italian cuisine" says COO Everke. Regardless, in November of 2018, the supervisory board pulls the plug on CEO Jochen Halfmann and replaces him with Cornelius Everke. Everke himself has just become COO five months ago. Since 2017 he was responsible for international expansion. From 2011 to 2017 that role was filled by Mario Bauer – put a pin in that name, he’ll play a key role in the groups fate later. Then nine months later, in the middle of 2019, Cornelius Everke quits. He essentially concludes that his skillset and experience in the areas of internation expansion is no longer needed in the foreseeable future. To put it differently: Vapiano has moved from a growth story and has become a restructuring case, and other skills are required for that job. In June of 2019 Everke says the following “(we’ve) made a bit of a mistake when it came to foreign expansion”. No sh#t. Vapiano postpones the presentation of the 2018 annual financial statements three times in the spring of 2019, citing negotiations over an urgently needed loan of 30 million euros. It’s not until the end of May that a binding loan commitment comes through from the financing banks and major shareholders. We are now in August of 2019 and the corona pandemic is just around the corner. Supervisory board chief Vanessa Hall takes over as interim-CEO and things are unravelling. Visitor numbers are declining; originally, it was planned to sell the US business but halfway through the year the buyer cannot come up with the money. But not all restaurants are performing poorly. The group's poor figures contrast starkly as an example with the experiences of the Swiss-German franchisee, who runs six restaurants. The Sodano family in Switzerland pays Vapiano a royalty of 6% of sales for the use of the brand. Enrico Sodano explains in an interview that they operate largely autonomously from the licensor. If an “accident” were to occur, he could immediately replace the Vapiano sign with Sodano, he says. The family concluded the rents and contracts with employees and suppliers independently. The Sodano family have six locations in Bern, Basel and Zurich, around one million guests every year and 350 employees. Things are going well on the ground. The delivery service they’ve built is offering them a second income stream. Expansion into Winterthur, St. Gallen and Lucerne are being planned; small locations with 150 to 250 square meters and an attached delivery service. Originally, Vapiano restaurants used to be huge but for such a large restaurant to be profitable, 800 to 1,000 guests per day are needed. That’s possible in medium-sized cities, but not in smaller towns which is why the Vapiano group now also supports smaller formats. Back to our corporate drama. The 2019 annual report would be the last report the group files. By the end 2019 the outstanding debt of the company is at an astronomical 450 million euros. Revenue has grown by another 7%, produced by four net new openings through two JVs and two franchise restaurants but operating losses come in at 317 million euros. That sound like an absolute shocker at first but depreciation and amortization charges are 345 million, so that operating cash flow is actually positive but unfortunately capital expenditures and interest payments are so large that they are eating up all of the company’s operating cash flow. Then in the beginning of 2020 Corona hits with full force and the world shuts down. As a result of the measures to prevent further spreading of the virus, the group is forced to cease all global business operations (except in Sweden). While all these shutdowns are happening, the group is the middle of negotiating with its lending banks and main shareholders. There are additional financing needs for restructuring measures, even without a pandemic happening in the background. The situation is so dire that the company starts pleading to the German government to roll out the package of financial help more quickly. Unfortunately, it’s to no end. The rapid closure of restaurants and the resulting lack of operating cash inflows in conjunction with the additional financing requirements, lead to the company’s final knockout punch. In April of 2020, the Vapiano group officially files for insolvency proceedings. The end of an era. New BeginningsBecause of the pandemic, the majority of the group's subsidiaries in Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, the United States, Sweden, and China also file for insolvency or seek liquidation. The US business never gets sold in the end and is wound down. In the summer of 2020, significant group divestments occur, including the sale of 75% shares in the group's French subsidiaries, shares in franchisor companies, Australian subsidiaries, German subsidiaries, associated companies, self-managed restaurants in Germany, and insolvency-related sales in the Netherlands, Great Britain, and Sweden. The buyer of the Vapiano brand and one of these bundles of Vapiano restaurants is company named Love & Food Restaurant Holding, a consortium led by Mario C. Bauer – a name I told you to remember. Bauer was a former Vapiano board member and led the national and international expansion, opening 200 sites in 33 countries from 2011 to 2017 until he was succeeded by Cornelius Everke. Bauer didn’t feel comfortable with the IPO at the time but clearly has a lot of managerial and entrepreneurial talent.The buyer consortium is an absolute A-Team comprised of European QSR top league hitters, including the founder of the Pret A Manger chain Sinclair Beecham; Henry McGovern, the founder and Ex-CEO of the giant international restaurant and foodservice operator AmRest; the Van der Valk Family that runs hotels and Vapiano restaurants in the Netherlands, and co-founder and ex-CEO Gregor Gerlach. The acquisition value is 15 million euros and entails 30 Vapiano restaurants in Germany, albeit that’s just the purchase price which comes on top of any capital investment needed to refresh and return the sites to its former glory. Nevertheless, just as a thought experiment, if you can get each site to 2 million euros of revenue and 400,000 euros in operating profit on average, which wouldn’t be an overly aggressively assumption given the company’s history, you’ve got yourself a package that can deliver restaurant-level operating profits of 12 million euros or more. It’s not disclosed how much capex was needed to refresh the operations, just that fact that the overall investment plus purchase price was a middle double-digit million-euro figure. Stil, it probably was a decent purchase. The same consortium buys Vapiano’s French business for 25 million euros just two weeks prior. After the transaction concludes, the master franchise is given to Delf Neumann and his Gastro & Soul GmbH. Neumann is an experienced operator, and he is ambitious to revitalise the brand with new services and products. For example, instead of pizza, the restaurants will be serving pinsa - a flatbread made from sourdough, wheat and rice flour, topped similarly to a pizza. It targets a more health-oriented customer base looking for a less calory heavy option. The menu overall is expanded by including a variety of vegan and vegetarian dishes. https://preview.redd.it/kpt7ea6red0d1.png?width=1242&format=png&auto=webp&s=c9930ced85ee364e9df414547cae06b47a03fc19 Today Neumann’s Gastro & Soul GmbH operates 18 Vapianos on its own account and has 29 franchise sites, amongst other brands. By the year 2021, Vapiano operates 191 restaurants in 34 countries. This is around 50 fewer sites than before the bankruptcy. The number of branches is particularly thinned out in Germany – from 80 to 55. Nevertheless, Vapiano's home country remains by far the largest market, followed by France with 35 restaurants and Austria with 15 locations. “We have shrunk ourselves to health,” says Bauer in the aftermath and there is no further shrinking planned. Quite the opposite, the smell of expansion is in the air again – pun intended. Not as aggressively as before and with a new menu and ordering process. Overall, the team around Bauer is filled with industry experts with knowledge and networks gained over decades who have a great track record, a long-term view, and the staying power to let Vapiano breath and finds its way back to success. The pressure of being a public company with all the associated quarterly, half-year and yearly disincentives have been removed. The menu is changed and extended with new types of pasta and sauces with significantly more vegetarian and vegan dishes available. Guests can order with restaurant staff, at terminals or on their phones and there are barcodes attached to the tables identify the respective seat. The food is brought to your table, all at the same time if you are in a group, no more annoyances with waiting in line. There is a plan for smaller, 350 square meter locations, with half the number of guests and significantly fewer staff and less set-up costs required to make the economics work. Locations that capitalize on remote work and increased demand for local lunch options, higher population density with shorter delivery routes and therefore cost-effective in house delivery services are targeted. And Bauer is testing the concept of ghost kitchens, which operate without a dining room or service staff, focusing solely on preparing food for delivery services, which for obvious reasons have a very different operational set up and footprint. Original founder Mark Korzilius however is not entirely convinced. He is not a fan of the pinsa for instance and he considers Vapiano's pizza as its cash cow, flagship product and believes that the core Vapiano proposition of Pizza, Pasta, Bar that has given the company its original success is being diluted. He instead admires the competitor L'Osteria, saying they’ve done a better job by focusing on Italian classics, especially the impressively large pizzas that sticks out beyond the plate is leaving every customer in awe. The guys who run L’Osteria are the same guys who have built Vapiano with him in the first place. Bauer on the other hand, like a true business leader, remains undeterred, stating that he is frequently asked whether Vapiano's restart was bold or foolish. He believes in entrepreneurship, franchising, in his experienced fellow partners and importantly the Vapiano concept. By the year 2024 you can find over 140 Vapiano branded restaurant in 27 countries across the globe, including locations far away from its birthplace like Australia, USA, Columbia, Chile, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia. And why not? Italian food is, and will remain to be, incredibly popular. Vapiano offers fresh and tasty food at affordable prices in a good atmosphere. This combination of attributes should attract a lot of customers. It certainly has in the past. For more stories: WIP Thomas Weitzendoerfer Substack |
2024.05.14 12:22 HawkeLai I can't believe My Kobo Bluetooth Always Disconnected while I using and can't find any setting, very frustrated
How do you possible to listen audio book with kobo? I have a kobo elipsa 2e, no matter I use Bluetooth earplugs, keyboard or page controller (only one connect in one time,) only a few minutes it will auto turn off the Bluetooth itself and Disconnected. I have to close my book, go to setting to turn on Bluetooth and go back my book (every time the process take 1 minute to turn back on.) I can't find any setting to keep the bluetooth on in "battery saver" or all the setting page.
After I try others ereader, I just feel how dumb I am, It will auto connect my Bluetooth device everytime I want to use and also auto off while I not in use.
Not even a single click I need for every time I use.
I want to use my kobo elipsa in the same way (at least please not Disconnected my device while I am using) I am activity scrolling my bool page, not trigger any sleep mode of it and it still auto Disconnected while I am using. I have try all my Bluetooth device on others ereader, tablet and it all work well, only on kobo will have this issie.
How can I set it or anything I miss? thank you
submitted by HawkeLai to kobo [link] [comments]
After I try others ereader, I just feel how dumb I am, It will auto connect my Bluetooth device everytime I want to use and also auto off while I not in use.
Not even a single click I need for every time I use.
I want to use my kobo elipsa in the same way (at least please not Disconnected my device while I am using) I am activity scrolling my bool page, not trigger any sleep mode of it and it still auto Disconnected while I am using. I have try all my Bluetooth device on others ereader, tablet and it all work well, only on kobo will have this issie.
How can I set it or anything I miss? thank you
2024.05.14 12:22 king_ganja1301 I turned into the pale man who haunted me as a child.
I turned into the pale man who haunted me as a child
https://www.reddit.com/ParanormalEncounters/s/nJGw3cgmyM - previous post
I morphed into the presence that haunted me
This is the 2nd dream I've had of myself turning into an evil entity
The first dream I had when I was 17, 2 years ago. I was sleeping and woke up on my back to see myself sitting on my desk at the end of my room. All the lights in my room where on and it felt safe. I spoke with myself about things I don't remember and we laughed. Then this figure who was me kept laughing and laughing and the room got darker and darker with only a red light that seemed to radiate on the figures face. I lunged at it and threw it to the floor and we fought and it started clawing at me and blood covered my hands and face
I ran to my parents and they dismissed me acting like I wasn't even there. I woke up bed. It was a false awakening.
I turned over and closed my eyes only to open them to be standing in front of an old hospital and a voice calling me as i rose into the air and I started crying and saying NO until the voice dropped me. I felt my knees ache and the dirt under my hands. I looked at my hands and saw the blood from the previous dream mixed with the dirt from the ground on my hands.
I woke up ONCE AGAIN and just tried to steady my breathing. I opened my eyes to be standing in an empty field with a single tree I just closed my eyes and when I woke up this time I was covered in sweat. I walked to my parents room and i just cried and cried while my mom held me and I asked her if this was reality
I managed to get past these dreams and sort of accept that I'll never understand them.
The problem is last night I had a dream in a similar vain. I saw myself. It looked as though I was staring at myself in a mirror. He was laughing and looking at me as well. His skin slowly started to go bleach white and his hair grew and grew until it covered his eyes and he just kept laughing and smiling.
I woke up in a cold sweat and ran to my mom and she calmed me down.
I know this dream sounds silly and normally at my big age I'd laugh it off and go back to bed. The problem is that I've seen that man before. The man I became in my dream.
When I was younger I was at a church camp and I went inside the church alone to get something while everyone was outside. I saw a man with bleach white skin and long hair laughing and calling to me. They found me inside and said I had been seizing. Haven't had a seizure before or since.
It's like when I see myself in these dreams, it's as if I'm being lured into a false sense of security and when I drop my guard this thing that appears as me, the person I'm most comfortable with, it reveals itself. It feels like a completely separate being to myself.
I'm worried if this means something and I really hope it doesn't. My friend thinks something is either trying to scare me or trying to posses me. My mom thinks something has been attached to me since I was younger and I'm just a bit worried and scared.
A comment by a user who said he had a similar experience with the pale man https://www.reddit.com/ParanormalEncounters/s/ip2FpRMvTk
submitted by king_ganja1301 to ParanormalEncounters [link] [comments]
https://www.reddit.com/ParanormalEncounters/s/nJGw3cgmyM - previous post
I morphed into the presence that haunted me
This is the 2nd dream I've had of myself turning into an evil entity
The first dream I had when I was 17, 2 years ago. I was sleeping and woke up on my back to see myself sitting on my desk at the end of my room. All the lights in my room where on and it felt safe. I spoke with myself about things I don't remember and we laughed. Then this figure who was me kept laughing and laughing and the room got darker and darker with only a red light that seemed to radiate on the figures face. I lunged at it and threw it to the floor and we fought and it started clawing at me and blood covered my hands and face
I ran to my parents and they dismissed me acting like I wasn't even there. I woke up bed. It was a false awakening.
I turned over and closed my eyes only to open them to be standing in front of an old hospital and a voice calling me as i rose into the air and I started crying and saying NO until the voice dropped me. I felt my knees ache and the dirt under my hands. I looked at my hands and saw the blood from the previous dream mixed with the dirt from the ground on my hands.
I woke up ONCE AGAIN and just tried to steady my breathing. I opened my eyes to be standing in an empty field with a single tree I just closed my eyes and when I woke up this time I was covered in sweat. I walked to my parents room and i just cried and cried while my mom held me and I asked her if this was reality
I managed to get past these dreams and sort of accept that I'll never understand them.
The problem is last night I had a dream in a similar vain. I saw myself. It looked as though I was staring at myself in a mirror. He was laughing and looking at me as well. His skin slowly started to go bleach white and his hair grew and grew until it covered his eyes and he just kept laughing and smiling.
I woke up in a cold sweat and ran to my mom and she calmed me down.
I know this dream sounds silly and normally at my big age I'd laugh it off and go back to bed. The problem is that I've seen that man before. The man I became in my dream.
When I was younger I was at a church camp and I went inside the church alone to get something while everyone was outside. I saw a man with bleach white skin and long hair laughing and calling to me. They found me inside and said I had been seizing. Haven't had a seizure before or since.
It's like when I see myself in these dreams, it's as if I'm being lured into a false sense of security and when I drop my guard this thing that appears as me, the person I'm most comfortable with, it reveals itself. It feels like a completely separate being to myself.
I'm worried if this means something and I really hope it doesn't. My friend thinks something is either trying to scare me or trying to posses me. My mom thinks something has been attached to me since I was younger and I'm just a bit worried and scared.
A comment by a user who said he had a similar experience with the pale man https://www.reddit.com/ParanormalEncounters/s/ip2FpRMvTk
2024.05.14 12:08 king_ganja1301 I turned into the pale man who haunted me as a child
https://www.reddit.com/ParanormalEncounters/s/nJGw3cgmyM - previous post
I morphed into the presence that haunted me
This is the 2nd dream I've had of myself turning into an evil entity
The first dream I had when I was 17, 2 years ago. I was sleeping and woke up on my back to see myself sitting on my desk at the end of my room. All the lights in my room where on and it felt safe. I spoke with myself about things I don't remember and we laughed. Then this figure who was me kept laughing and laughing and the room got darker and darker with only a red light that seemed to radiate on the figures face. I lunged at it and threw it to the floor and we fought and it started clawing at me and blood covered my hands and face
I ran to my parents and they dismissed me acting like I wasn't even there. I woke up bed. It was a false awakening.
I turned over and closed my eyes only to open them to be standing in front of an old hospital and a voice calling me as i rose into the air and I started crying and saying NO until the voice dropped me. I felt my knees ache and the dirt under my hands. I looked at my hands and saw the blood from the previous dream mixed with the dirt from the ground on my hands.
I woke up ONCE AGAIN and just tried to steady my breathing. I opened my eyes to be standing in an empty field with a single tree I just closed my eyes and when I woke up this time I was covered in sweat. I walked to my parents room and i just cried and cried while my mom held me and I asked her if this was reality
I managed to get past these dreams and sort of accept that I'll never understand them.
The problem is last night I had a dream in a similar vain. I saw myself. It looked as though I was staring at myself in a mirror. He was laughing and looking at me as well. His skin slowly started to go bleach white and his hair grew and grew until it covered his eyes and he just kept laughing and smiling.
I woke up in a cold sweat and ran to my mom and she calmed me down.
I know this dream sounds silly and normally at my big age I'd laugh it off and go back to bed. The problem is that I've seen that man before. The man I became in my dream.
When I was younger I was at a church camp and I went inside the church alone to get something while everyone was outside. I saw a man with bleach white skin and long hair laughing and calling to me. They found me inside and said I had been seizing. Haven't had a seizure before or since.
It's like when I see myself in these dreams, it's as if I'm being lured into a false sense of security and when I drop my guard this thing that appears as me, the person I'm most comfortable with, it reveals itself. It feels like a completely separate being to myself.
I'm worried if this means something and I really hope it doesn't. My friend thinks something is either trying to scare me or trying to posses me. My mom thinks something has been attached to me since I was younger and I'm just a bit worried and scared.
A comment by a user who said he had a similar experience with the pale man https://www.reddit.com/ParanormalEncounters/s/ip2FpRMvTk
submitted by king_ganja1301 to u/king_ganja1301 [link] [comments]
I morphed into the presence that haunted me
This is the 2nd dream I've had of myself turning into an evil entity
The first dream I had when I was 17, 2 years ago. I was sleeping and woke up on my back to see myself sitting on my desk at the end of my room. All the lights in my room where on and it felt safe. I spoke with myself about things I don't remember and we laughed. Then this figure who was me kept laughing and laughing and the room got darker and darker with only a red light that seemed to radiate on the figures face. I lunged at it and threw it to the floor and we fought and it started clawing at me and blood covered my hands and face
I ran to my parents and they dismissed me acting like I wasn't even there. I woke up bed. It was a false awakening.
I turned over and closed my eyes only to open them to be standing in front of an old hospital and a voice calling me as i rose into the air and I started crying and saying NO until the voice dropped me. I felt my knees ache and the dirt under my hands. I looked at my hands and saw the blood from the previous dream mixed with the dirt from the ground on my hands.
I woke up ONCE AGAIN and just tried to steady my breathing. I opened my eyes to be standing in an empty field with a single tree I just closed my eyes and when I woke up this time I was covered in sweat. I walked to my parents room and i just cried and cried while my mom held me and I asked her if this was reality
I managed to get past these dreams and sort of accept that I'll never understand them.
The problem is last night I had a dream in a similar vain. I saw myself. It looked as though I was staring at myself in a mirror. He was laughing and looking at me as well. His skin slowly started to go bleach white and his hair grew and grew until it covered his eyes and he just kept laughing and smiling.
I woke up in a cold sweat and ran to my mom and she calmed me down.
I know this dream sounds silly and normally at my big age I'd laugh it off and go back to bed. The problem is that I've seen that man before. The man I became in my dream.
When I was younger I was at a church camp and I went inside the church alone to get something while everyone was outside. I saw a man with bleach white skin and long hair laughing and calling to me. They found me inside and said I had been seizing. Haven't had a seizure before or since.
It's like when I see myself in these dreams, it's as if I'm being lured into a false sense of security and when I drop my guard this thing that appears as me, the person I'm most comfortable with, it reveals itself. It feels like a completely separate being to myself.
I'm worried if this means something and I really hope it doesn't. My friend thinks something is either trying to scare me or trying to posses me. My mom thinks something has been attached to me since I was younger and I'm just a bit worried and scared.
A comment by a user who said he had a similar experience with the pale man https://www.reddit.com/ParanormalEncounters/s/ip2FpRMvTk
2024.05.14 12:07 Excellent-Bad-8401 My PFS Odyssey
Hi guys, I've come here time to time for the past 7 or 8 months whenever I feel symptoms or anxious and I guess it's time I shared my story, as there could be some things I learned along the way that would be helpful for folks. I'm a 30 year old male. I took minoxidil for 5 years from the age of 25. Once that didn't seem to be working any more I tried to get oral minoxidil and my doctor told me to get on propecia instead. I told her I felt a little scared about that but she said I'd be fine. I've always had a good libido, maybe too good, like bordering on sex obsession.. so I figured if anything a little less libido might do me good. Soon after I started the propecia I got a concussion (mild) from a soccer ball, and that was after a weekend where I tripped on acid, so there were some things going on. I had also had pretty bad food poisoning some months ago that took forever to heal from with some lingering tummy problems. Anyway, I had weird symptoms after the concussion. I almost felt like, euphoric. It felt like my brain was just releasing all of its happy chemicals at once. Part of my euphoria was an absolute disinterest in sex, but I enjoyed that, I felt like I was attaining enlightenment or something. I was glowing and productive. After a week or so all of this went away and I went back to having normal sexual health and normal (bad) mental health and I didn't really think about it again. Fast forward 6 months. I quit my job because I am depressed about it and life in NYC is suffocating me, I want to travel the world before it burns down, in the interim I move back home to get my affairs sorted. I had to dye my hair for some short film, and I hated it, when I cut it my hair didn't look good, seemed I'd lost a lot more than I thought, and that made me sad so I was researching finasteride (does this stuff even work?) and then I accidentally found this community on reddit... and it freaked me out. I had a full blown panic attack reading these posts. Then I started thinking about things that had been happening in my life. Increased anxiety and depression. Chronic prostatitis. And the development of IBS, especially bad after drinking alcohol, which actually led me to give up drinking for a while. My sexual health was fine, but I think the anxiety from reading the reddit posts gave me some weird sexual side effects, not joking. That same day I started feeling an achey tingling in my balls, as if they were swelling up. I remember going on a walk with a girl I was seeing and I just felt so off and couldn't even enjoy walking because of the heaviness of my balls and I didn't want to sleep with her at all anymore. I immediately gave up both fin and min, kind of sad because I had just bought a years supply of the stuff from one of those new websites that makes it easy. So with all this happening, I had also been planing to ride my bicycle around the world. I left for India about a week after cutting the hair drugs and cutting alcohol. And then I'm in India. Without alcohol, my IBS pretty much completely healed. I was making very nice poos. The cycling irritated my prostate though. I started off by going over the Himalayas which involved a lot of climbing and therefore a lot of my groin pushing hard into a bike saddle. Still, I was able to pleasure myself in the tent successfully, which I only did to keep tabs on my progress of course. Things were looking up. Leaving work and NYC and America already did a 180 on all of my mental health issues, as did quitting alcohol. My memory improved. I was reading and writing and thinking clearly. I was a happy guy. After finishing the himalayas I had a few beers about it with some friends to celebrate. A few days later I got some cramps in my abdomen, and then the next day severe food poisoning. Both ends type. So bad. Had to keep going though. I kept cycling through the mountains. For two weeks I had diarrhea, and then that turned into regular old IBS again, like always running to the bathroom never knowing if I'll make it on time and the poop is this sludge like texture. It sucked. I was also sad about my hair, as it looked like I was losing all my gains. I bought a fin/min topical mixture and started using that while I was in a meditation retreat. I started having that weird euphoric feeling again, but I attributed it to the meditation, which was really life changing but no need to elaborate on that. I also started feeling prostatitis again (burning sensation tip of penis, feels like you want to pee). I had fixed the tilt on my bike saddle to eliminate prostate issues so it was weird that it was coming back again. I figured maybe coming from sitting in meditative posture all day. I guess I was in denial, but after about a month or so I figured it must be the finasteride so I gave it up again and switched to just minoxidil. But then, the minoxidil was making me feel weird too. I remember one time, the very same night I applied minoxidil it felt like my asshole was falling out, like I had a rectal prolapse, now I think it's hemorrhoids. I had the hemorrhoid feeling for a while. Keep in mind, my main issue at this time remains the IBS. I also had very low libido but honestly I rarely saw attractive women on my trip so who knows. So I kept cycling, I cycled all the way from the North in KashmiLadakh to Kerala, the south. My IBS never went away. I tried all sorts of things for my hair. I went to an ayurvedic place and they put leeches on my scalp which was hilarious. They also gave me this weird ayurvedic oil with no real instructions. I think that must have had some DHT blocker in it because it gave me the weird feelings too, especially the hemorrhoid feeling. I started drinking oregano oil and taking copious amounts of probiotics, which would always help for a couple days against the IBS but I think the heat of the Indian sun killed them off while they were in my saddle bags. Then I found this new chemical combo in South India, starring redensyl and backed up with procapil and anagain. I figured what the hell why not. It came with a dht blocker gummy vitamin but it was just green tea with biotin and zinc so whatever. I started feeling a lot better on that. One random week I started getting insane erections and it felt like my dick grew an inch. Can't really explain what was going on there. Prior to that the erections were meh and I would cum sometimes in a half-noodle like state which was very sad. Anyway, that didn't last forever. Once I got to the very south I decided I needed a full system reboot and went to another ayurvedic place and got something called a panchakarma. In panchakarma you go on a very restrictive diet and they massage all of your body toxins into your gut, they make you drink a ton of ghee to help do this, and then they purge you, so it all comes out of your butt, and then in my case I got 5 medicated enemas. It's a two week process, sometimes longer. I know it sounds crazy but it definitely makes you feel better. I was also doing yoga and meditating every day which was super helpful. After that my IBS went away. I had to keep to the diet for two weeks after: no sugar, caffeine, gluten, alcohol or meat. After the two weeks I dipped my toes back into all those things and my gut stayed solid. Crazy. I also felt good sexually. I started taking another hair serum, this one with redensyl, anagain, procapil, and pumpkin seed oil. Still felt great. I flew to Malaysia and started cycling there. In Malaysia I just started feeling better and better. No IBS, huge erections again. In fact, I became obsessed with sex again. And it was depressing. I actually started missing the days when I had no libido in India. I was really able to focus on other things. Sex is such a waste of mental energy. I could drink alcohol again. And so I did, and had no issues. Which was great but I also was kind of sad about it, am I just going to be a sex-obsessed booze hound again? Have I learned nothing? Anyway, the story continues. No one is bald in Malaysia so I had to order more of my chemicals to feed my hopeless hair serum addiction. I found a crazy one that was stacked with redensyl, anagain, procapil, baicapil, capixyl, biotin, aminexil, rice water, rosemary oil, and .... saw palmetto. The saw palmetto was maybe .3% so I figured it probably wouldn't have any effect, especially since I was fine with the pumpkin seed oil. Anyway, 10 days into that serum I got the tingly swelly feeling in my balls again and some prostatitis too! Oy, back to the start it would seem. I'm mainly just upset because I ordered 3 bottles of that stuff and had to pay taxes on the import because it came from India, and now I guess I have to throw it all out? Whatever. Anyway, you can call me an idiot, but by using my body as a guinea pig I believe I've uncovered some interesting info for everyone. Just as the early men who figured out which berries were poisonous, I serve humanity with my tragic misadventures. Still cycling, hoping to go around the world and find new ways to mess with my hormones and keep some of my hair. My advice from this, do something to fully cleanse your system, like the panchakarma. We've basically tampered too much with our settings and need to do a factory reset. You can do a lot of that stuff on your own, fasting, purging, enemas. It stimulates your body into healing itself. Hell, go to India. In India doctors actually listen to you and treat you holistically, and everything is cheap! You can get rifaximin for 2 dollars should you desire. You don't need to keep getting gaslit by expensive urologists and gastros in the states your whole life. Just do something crazy. You'll stay depressed if you linger on the internet for too long. And if you're stuck in a job/life you hate, take PFS as a sign and excuse to be selfish and get out of it, think of yourself as a terminally ill person that just wants to live life for the little time they have left. Obviously I still have no idea if any of what I've experienced is actually PFS or if it's maybe related to the original food poisoning or the concussion or maybe even Long Covid. No clue. But I do think a lot of my symptoms have been consistent with what you guys talk about. Either way, whatever it is, treat your body well and you may heal. I hope? I'm currently sitting on a swollen sack hoping that the PFS Gods will be merciful once more, but I know I don't deserve it. My desire to have hair still hasn't gone away, and I keep thinking maybe if I try just one more thing that'll be the thing that works. And that's what keeps pulling me back into this mess. But at the end of the day I can thank PFS for forcing me to make the big life changes that have made me a much happier person today, regardless of the state of my pelvic area.
submitted by Excellent-Bad-8401 to FinasterideSyndrome [link] [comments]
2024.05.14 12:00 Ok-Drawer-4933 Revolutionize Your Sleep Routine with an Online Sleep Consultant: Proven Strategies Inside
Sleepless nights, tossing and turning, waking up groggy—sound familiar? If you're struggling with sleep, you're not alone. In today's fast-paced world, quality rest can feel like a luxury. But what if I told you there's a solution at your fingertips? Enter online sleep consulting—a revolutionary approach to tackling sleep troubles from the comfort of your own home.
Sleep isn't just about closing your eyes and resting; it's a vital process that rejuvenates both your body and mind. From boosting immunity to enhancing cognitive function, the benefits of a good night's sleep are endless.
Common Sleep Issues Faced Today
However, with the rise of screens, stress, and busy schedules, achieving that elusive eight hours can seem impossible. Insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome—these are just a few of the sleep disorders plaguing millions worldwide.
So, what exactly is online sleep consulting? Think of it as having a personal sleep coach available at the click of a button. Through virtual consultations, sleep experts assess your sleep habits, identify underlying issues, and design personalized plans to help you reclaim your ZZZs.
Benefits of Seeking Help Online
The beauty of online consulting lies in its accessibility. No need to commute to appointments or rearrange your schedule; you can access professional guidance from anywhere with an internet connection. Plus, with a growing number of certified sleep consultants offering their services online, finding the right fit has never been easier.
But who are these sleep consultants, and what qualifies them to guide your slumber? Rest assured, they're not just self-proclaimed "sleep gurus." Many hold advanced degrees in fields like psychology, sleep medicine, or counseling, and undergo rigorous training to become certified sleep coaches.
How They Can Help You
From analyzing your sleep patterns to providing practical strategies, online sleep consultants are your partners in the quest for better sleep. Whether you're struggling with erratic sleep schedules or battling chronic insomnia, they're equipped with the knowledge and tools to address your unique needs.
One key aspect of online sleep consulting is gaining insight into your sleep architecture. By deciphering your sleep stages and rhythms, consultants can pinpoint areas for improvement and tailor interventions accordingly.
Tools and Techniques Used by Consultants
So, how do they do it? Through a combination of sleep diaries, questionnaires, and cutting-edge technology, consultants gather data on your sleep habits and preferences. Armed with this information, they devise customized strategies to optimize your sleep quality.
There's no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to sleep. That's why online Sleep consultant online take a personalized approach to crafting your sleep plan. Whether you're a night owl or an early bird, they'll work with your natural rhythms to develop strategies that stick.
Personalized Recommendations for Better Sleep
From setting a consistent bedtime to creating a calming pre-sleep routine, your sleep plan will be tailored to address your specific challenges and goals. Whether you're aiming for more restful nights or seeking relief from sleep disorders, your consultant will be by your side every step of the way.
For those battling more serious sleep issues like insomnia or sleep apnea, online consulting offers a lifeline. Consultants are trained to recognize the signs of sleep disorders and can provide guidance on managing symptoms, accessing treatment, and improving overall sleep hygiene.
Strategies for Coping with Insomnia, Sleep Apnea, etc.
Whether it's cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) or lifestyle modifications for sleep apnea, consultants are well-versed in evidence-based interventions to tackle a range of sleep disorders. With their support, you can take proactive steps towards better sleep and better health.
Your bedroom should be a sanctuary for sleep, free from distractions and conducive to relaxation. From blackout curtains to white noise machines, consultants can offer recommendations for creating a sleep-friendly environment that promotes restorative rest.
Using Technology to Enhance Sleep Quality
In the digital age, technology isn't just part of the problem—it can also be part of the solution. Consultants can introduce you to apps, wearables, and other gadgets designed to track your sleep, monitor your progress, and even lull you to sleep with soothing sounds or guided meditations.
Just like Pavlov's dogs salivated at the sound of a bell, your body responds to cues that it's time to sleep. Establishing a consistent bedtime routine signals to your brain that it's time to wind down, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night.
Tips for Relaxation and Stress Reduction Before Bed
In today's hyper-connected world, unwinding before bed can be easier said than done. That's where relaxation techniques like deep breathing, meditation, or gentle stretching come in handy. By calming your mind and body, you can ease into sleep more effortlessly.
You are what you eat—and how you move. Diet and exercise play a crucial role in regulating your sleep-wake cycle and promoting restful slumber. From limiting caffeine and heavy meals before bed to incorporating regular physical activity into your routine, small changes can yield big improvements in your sleep quality.
Recommendations for Improving Sleep Through Lifestyle Changes
Consultants don't just focus on what happens between the sheets—they're interested in your entire lifestyle. By addressing factors like diet, exercise, stress, and screen time, they can help you create habits that support healthy sleep and overall well-being.
In the age of smartphones and smartwatches, tracking your sleep has never been easier. Consultants may recommend apps or wearable devices that monitor your sleep patterns, providing valuable insights into your nightly habits and trends.
How Consultants Modify Plans Based on Progress
But it's not just about collecting data—it's about using it to drive meaningful change. Consultants will regularly review your progress and adjust your sleep plan as needed, ensuring that you stay on track towards your sleep goals.
Gone are the days of waiting weeks for an appointment or trekking across town to see a specialist. With online consulting, help is just a click away. Whether you're a busy parent, a frequent traveler, or simply prefer the comfort of your own home, online services offer unparalleled convenience and flexibility.
Effectiveness Compared to Traditional Methods
But don't let the lack of face-to-face interaction fool you—online consulting is just as effective as in-person sessions, if not more so. Research has shown that virtual interventions can produce significant improvements in sleep quality, making them a viable alternative for those unable to access traditional services.
Still skeptical? Hear it straight from the source. Countless individuals have transformed their sleep and their lives with the help of online sleep consulting. From chronic insomniacs to weary shift workers, the proof is in the pudding—better sleep is within reach.
Case Studies Highlighting Positive Outcomes
Take, for example, Sarah, a busy executive struggling to juggle work, family, and sleep. After just a few weeks of working with an online sleep consultant, she's sleeping soundly through the night, waking up refreshed, and tackling her days with newfound energy and focus.
You might be wondering, "How much does it cost?" Surprisingly, online sleep consulting is more affordable than you might think. With a range of pricing options to fit every budget, there's no reason to put a price on your health and well-being.
Availability of Services Worldwide
And the best part? Online sleep consulting isn't limited by geography. Whether you're in New York or New Zealand, you can access top-tier sleep expertise without ever leaving your home. The world is your oyster—and a good night's sleep is just a click away.
Ready to take the plunge? Before diving in, consider factors like credentials, experience, and specialization. Look for consultants who are certified by reputable organizations and have a track record of success in addressing your specific sleep concerns.
Questions to Ask Before Committing
Still unsure? Don't hesitate to ask questions. A good consultant will be happy to provide information about their approach, methodology, and success rate. After all, your sleep is too important to leave to chance.
Sleepless nights, tossing and turning, waking up groggy—sound familiar? If you're struggling with sleep, you're not alone. In today's fast-paced world, quality rest can feel like a luxury. But what if I told you there's a solution at your fingertips? Enter online sleep consulting—a revolutionary approach to tackling sleep troubles from the comfort of your own home.
Sleep isn't just about closing your eyes and resting; it's a vital process that rejuvenates both your body and mind. From boosting immunity to enhancing cognitive function, the benefits of a good night's sleep are endless.
Common Sleep Issues Faced Today
However, with the rise of screens, stress, and busy schedules, achieving that elusive eight hours can seem impossible. Insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome—these are just a few of the sleep disorders plaguing millions worldwide.
So, what exactly is online sleep consulting? Think of it as having a personal sleep coach available at the click of a button. Through virtual consultations, sleep experts assess your sleep habits, identify underlying issues, and design personalized plans to help you reclaim your ZZZs.
Benefits of Seeking Help Online
The beauty of online consulting lies in its accessibility. No need to commute to appointments or rearrange your schedule; you can access professional guidance from anywhere with an internet connection. Plus, with a growing number of certified sleep consultants offering their services online, finding the right fit has never been easier.
But who are these sleep consultants, and what qualifies them to guide your slumber? Rest assured, they're not just self-proclaimed "sleep gurus." Many hold advanced degrees in fields like psychology, sleep medicine, or counseling, and undergo rigorous training to become certified sleep coaches.
How They Can Help You
From analyzing your sleep patterns to providing practical strategies, online sleep consultants are your partners in the quest for better sleep. Whether you're struggling with erratic sleep schedules or battling chronic insomnia, they're equipped with the knowledge and tools to address your unique needs.
One key aspect of online sleep consulting is gaining insight into your sleep architecture. By deciphering your sleep stages and rhythms, consultants can pinpoint areas for improvement and tailor interventions accordingly.
Tools and Techniques Used by Consultants
So, how do they do it? Through a combination of sleep diaries, questionnaires, and cutting-edge technology, consultants gather data on your sleep habits and preferences. Armed with this information, they devise customized strategies to optimize your sleep quality.
There's no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to sleep. That's why online Sleep consultant online take a personalized approach to crafting your sleep plan. Whether you're a night owl or an early bird, they'll work with your natural rhythms to develop strategies that stick.
Personalized Recommendations for Better Sleep
From setting a consistent bedtime to creating a calming pre-sleep routine, your sleep plan will be tailored to address your specific challenges and goals. Whether you're aiming for more restful nights or seeking relief from sleep disorders, your consultant will be by your side every step of the way.
For those battling more serious sleep issues like insomnia or sleep apnea, online consulting offers a lifeline. Consultants are trained to recognize the signs of sleep disorders and can provide guidance on managing symptoms, accessing treatment, and improving overall sleep hygiene.
Strategies for Coping with Insomnia, Sleep Apnea, etc.
Whether it's cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) or lifestyle modifications for sleep apnea, consultants are well-versed in evidence-based interventions to tackle a range of sleep disorders. With their support, you can take proactive steps towards better sleep and better health.
Your bedroom should be a sanctuary for sleep, free from distractions and conducive to relaxation. From blackout curtains to white noise machines, consultants can offer recommendations for creating a sleep-friendly environment that promotes restorative rest.
Using Technology to Enhance Sleep Quality
In the digital age, technology isn't just part of the problem—it can also be part of the solution. Consultants can introduce you to apps, wearables, and other gadgets designed to track your sleep, monitor your progress, and even lull you to sleep with soothing sounds or guided meditations.
Just like Pavlov's dogs salivated at the sound of a bell, your body responds to cues that it's time to sleep. Establishing a consistent bedtime routine signals to your brain that it's time to wind down, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night.
Tips for Relaxation and Stress Reduction Before Bed
In today's hyper-connected world, unwinding before bed can be easier said than done. That's where relaxation techniques like deep breathing, meditation, or gentle stretching come in handy. By calming your mind and body, you can ease into sleep more effortlessly.
You are what you eat—and how you move. Diet and exercise play a crucial role in regulating your sleep-wake cycle and promoting restful slumber. From limiting caffeine and heavy meals before bed to incorporating regular physical activity into your routine, small changes can yield big improvements in your sleep quality.
Recommendations for Improving Sleep Through Lifestyle Changes
Consultants don't just focus on what happens between the sheets—they're interested in your entire lifestyle. By addressing factors like diet, exercise, stress, and screen time, they can help you create habits that support healthy sleep and overall well-being.
In the age of smartphones and smartwatches, tracking your sleep has never been easier. Consultants may recommend apps or wearable devices that monitor your sleep patterns, providing valuable insights into your nightly habits and trends.
How Consultants Modify Plans Based on Progress
But it's not just about collecting data—it's about using it to drive meaningful change. Consultants will regularly review your progress and adjust your sleep plan as needed, ensuring that you stay on track towards your sleep goals.
Gone are the days of waiting weeks for an appointment or trekking across town to see a specialist. With online consulting, help is just a click away. Whether you're a busy parent, a frequent traveler, or simply prefer the comfort of your own home, online services offer unparalleled convenience and flexibility.
Effectiveness Compared to Traditional Methods
But don't let the lack of face-to-face interaction fool you—online consulting is just as effective as in-person sessions, if not more so. Research has shown that virtual interventions can produce significant improvements in sleep quality, making them a viable alternative for those unable to access traditional services.
Still skeptical? Hear it straight from the source. Countless individuals have transformed their sleep and their lives with the help of online sleep consulting. From chronic insomniacs to weary shift workers, the proof is in the pudding—better sleep is within reach.
Case Studies Highlighting Positive Outcomes
Take, for example, Sarah, a busy executive struggling to juggle work, family, and sleep. After just a few weeks of working with an online sleep consultant, she's sleeping soundly through the night, waking up refreshed, and tackling her days with newfound energy and focus.
You might be wondering, "How much does it cost?" Surprisingly, online sleep consulting is more affordable than you might think. With a range of pricing options to fit every budget, there's no reason to put a price on your health and well-being.
Availability of Services Worldwide
And the best part? Online sleep consulting isn't limited by geography. Whether you're in New York or New Zealand, you can access top-tier sleep expertise without ever leaving your home. The world is your oyster—and a good night's sleep is just a click away.
Ready to take the plunge? Before diving in, consider factors like credentials, experience, and specialization. Look for consultants who are certified by reputable organizations and have a track record of success in addressing your specific sleep concerns.
Questions to Ask Before Committing
Still unsure? Don't hesitate to ask questions. A good consultant will be happy to provide information about their approach, methodology, and success rate. After all, your sleep is too important to leave to chance.
submitted by Ok-Drawer-4933 to u/Ok-Drawer-4933 [link] [comments]
Introduction to Sleep Troubles
Understanding the Importance of Quality SleepSleep isn't just about closing your eyes and resting; it's a vital process that rejuvenates both your body and mind. From boosting immunity to enhancing cognitive function, the benefits of a good night's sleep are endless.
Common Sleep Issues Faced Today
However, with the rise of screens, stress, and busy schedules, achieving that elusive eight hours can seem impossible. Insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome—these are just a few of the sleep disorders plaguing millions worldwide.
The Rise of Online Sleep Consulting
Explaining the Concept of Online Sleep ConsultingSo, what exactly is online sleep consulting? Think of it as having a personal sleep coach available at the click of a button. Through virtual consultations, sleep experts assess your sleep habits, identify underlying issues, and design personalized plans to help you reclaim your ZZZs.
Benefits of Seeking Help Online
The beauty of online consulting lies in its accessibility. No need to commute to appointments or rearrange your schedule; you can access professional guidance from anywhere with an internet connection. Plus, with a growing number of certified sleep consultants offering their services online, finding the right fit has never been easier.
Meet Your Online Sleep Consultant
Qualifications and ExpertiseBut who are these sleep consultants, and what qualifies them to guide your slumber? Rest assured, they're not just self-proclaimed "sleep gurus." Many hold advanced degrees in fields like psychology, sleep medicine, or counseling, and undergo rigorous training to become certified sleep coaches.
How They Can Help You
From analyzing your sleep patterns to providing practical strategies, online sleep consultants are your partners in the quest for better sleep. Whether you're struggling with erratic sleep schedules or battling chronic insomnia, they're equipped with the knowledge and tools to address your unique needs.
Understanding Your Sleep Patterns
Importance of Understanding Sleep CyclesOne key aspect of online sleep consulting is gaining insight into your sleep architecture. By deciphering your sleep stages and rhythms, consultants can pinpoint areas for improvement and tailor interventions accordingly.
Tools and Techniques Used by Consultants
So, how do they do it? Through a combination of sleep diaries, questionnaires, and cutting-edge technology, consultants gather data on your sleep habits and preferences. Armed with this information, they devise customized strategies to optimize your sleep quality.
Customized Sleep Plans
Tailoring Strategies to Your Unique NeedsThere's no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to sleep. That's why online Sleep consultant online take a personalized approach to crafting your sleep plan. Whether you're a night owl or an early bird, they'll work with your natural rhythms to develop strategies that stick.
Personalized Recommendations for Better Sleep
From setting a consistent bedtime to creating a calming pre-sleep routine, your sleep plan will be tailored to address your specific challenges and goals. Whether you're aiming for more restful nights or seeking relief from sleep disorders, your consultant will be by your side every step of the way.
Addressing Sleep Disorders
Identifying and Managing Sleep DisordersFor those battling more serious sleep issues like insomnia or sleep apnea, online consulting offers a lifeline. Consultants are trained to recognize the signs of sleep disorders and can provide guidance on managing symptoms, accessing treatment, and improving overall sleep hygiene.
Strategies for Coping with Insomnia, Sleep Apnea, etc.
Whether it's cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) or lifestyle modifications for sleep apnea, consultants are well-versed in evidence-based interventions to tackle a range of sleep disorders. With their support, you can take proactive steps towards better sleep and better health.
Creating a Sleep-Friendly Environment
Tips for Optimizing Your Bedroom for SleepYour bedroom should be a sanctuary for sleep, free from distractions and conducive to relaxation. From blackout curtains to white noise machines, consultants can offer recommendations for creating a sleep-friendly environment that promotes restorative rest.
Using Technology to Enhance Sleep Quality
In the digital age, technology isn't just part of the problem—it can also be part of the solution. Consultants can introduce you to apps, wearables, and other gadgets designed to track your sleep, monitor your progress, and even lull you to sleep with soothing sounds or guided meditations.
Developing Healthy Sleep Habits
Importance of Consistent Bedtime RoutineJust like Pavlov's dogs salivated at the sound of a bell, your body responds to cues that it's time to sleep. Establishing a consistent bedtime routine signals to your brain that it's time to wind down, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night.
Tips for Relaxation and Stress Reduction Before Bed
In today's hyper-connected world, unwinding before bed can be easier said than done. That's where relaxation techniques like deep breathing, meditation, or gentle stretching come in handy. By calming your mind and body, you can ease into sleep more effortlessly.
Diet and Exercise for Better Sleep
Impact of Diet and Exercise on Sleep QualityYou are what you eat—and how you move. Diet and exercise play a crucial role in regulating your sleep-wake cycle and promoting restful slumber. From limiting caffeine and heavy meals before bed to incorporating regular physical activity into your routine, small changes can yield big improvements in your sleep quality.
Recommendations for Improving Sleep Through Lifestyle Changes
Consultants don't just focus on what happens between the sheets—they're interested in your entire lifestyle. By addressing factors like diet, exercise, stress, and screen time, they can help you create habits that support healthy sleep and overall well-being.
Tracking Progress and Adjustments
Using Apps and Devices to Monitor Sleep PatternsIn the age of smartphones and smartwatches, tracking your sleep has never been easier. Consultants may recommend apps or wearable devices that monitor your sleep patterns, providing valuable insights into your nightly habits and trends.
How Consultants Modify Plans Based on Progress
But it's not just about collecting data—it's about using it to drive meaningful change. Consultants will regularly review your progress and adjust your sleep plan as needed, ensuring that you stay on track towards your sleep goals.
Benefits of Online vs. In-Person Consulting
Convenience and Accessibility of Online ServicesGone are the days of waiting weeks for an appointment or trekking across town to see a specialist. With online consulting, help is just a click away. Whether you're a busy parent, a frequent traveler, or simply prefer the comfort of your own home, online services offer unparalleled convenience and flexibility.
Effectiveness Compared to Traditional Methods
But don't let the lack of face-to-face interaction fool you—online consulting is just as effective as in-person sessions, if not more so. Research has shown that virtual interventions can produce significant improvements in sleep quality, making them a viable alternative for those unable to access traditional services.
Success Stories: Real-Life Examples
Testimonials from Clients Who Improved Their SleepStill skeptical? Hear it straight from the source. Countless individuals have transformed their sleep and their lives with the help of online sleep consulting. From chronic insomniacs to weary shift workers, the proof is in the pudding—better sleep is within reach.
Case Studies Highlighting Positive Outcomes
Take, for example, Sarah, a busy executive struggling to juggle work, family, and sleep. After just a few weeks of working with an online sleep consultant, she's sleeping soundly through the night, waking up refreshed, and tackling her days with newfound energy and focus.
Cost and Accessibility
Affordability of Online Sleep ConsultingYou might be wondering, "How much does it cost?" Surprisingly, online sleep consulting is more affordable than you might think. With a range of pricing options to fit every budget, there's no reason to put a price on your health and well-being.
Availability of Services Worldwide
And the best part? Online sleep consulting isn't limited by geography. Whether you're in New York or New Zealand, you can access top-tier sleep expertise without ever leaving your home. The world is your oyster—and a good night's sleep is just a click away.
Getting Started: Tips for Finding the Right Consultant
Factors to Consider When Choosing an Online Sleep ConsultantReady to take the plunge? Before diving in, consider factors like credentials, experience, and specialization. Look for consultants who are certified by reputable organizations and have a track record of success in addressing your specific sleep concerns.
Questions to Ask Before Committing
Still unsure? Don't hesitate to ask questions. A good consultant will be happy to provide information about their approach, methodology, and success rate. After all, your sleep is too important to leave to chance.
Conclusion
Sleep shouldn't be a luxury reserved for the lucky few—it's a fundamental human need that impacts every aspect of our lives. With the rise of online sleep consulting, help is more accessible than ever before. Whether you're struggling with insomnia, sleep apnea, or simply can't seem to switch off at night, there's a solution out there waiting for you. So why wait? Take the first step towards better sleep today and revolutionize your sleep routine for good.FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
- Is online sleep consulting covered by insurance?
- While coverage varies depending on your provider and policy, some insurance plans may reimburse for online sleep consulting services. It's worth checking with your insurer to see what's covered.
- How long does it take to see results from online sleep consulting?
- Results can vary depending on individual circumstances, but many clients report improvements in sleep quality within a few weeks of starting their consultation.
- Can online sleep consulting help with children's sleep issues?
- Absolutely! Many consultants specialize in pediatric sleep and can provide guidance on establishing healthy sleep habits for children of all ages.
- Are online sleep consultants qualified to diagnose sleep disorders?
- While consultants can identify common signs of sleep disorders, they are not licensed medical professionals and cannot provide formal diagnoses. If you suspect you have a sleep disorder, it's important to consult with a physician or sleep specialist for proper evaluation and treatment.
- What if I'm not tech-savvy? Can I still benefit from online sleep consulting?
- Absolutely! Most consultants offer user-friendly platforms and provide support every step of the way. Whether you're a digital native or a technophobe, you'll find online sleep consulting easy to navigate and rewarding in its results.
Sleepless nights, tossing and turning, waking up groggy—sound familiar? If you're struggling with sleep, you're not alone. In today's fast-paced world, quality rest can feel like a luxury. But what if I told you there's a solution at your fingertips? Enter online sleep consulting—a revolutionary approach to tackling sleep troubles from the comfort of your own home.
Introduction to Sleep Troubles
Understanding the Importance of Quality SleepSleep isn't just about closing your eyes and resting; it's a vital process that rejuvenates both your body and mind. From boosting immunity to enhancing cognitive function, the benefits of a good night's sleep are endless.
Common Sleep Issues Faced Today
However, with the rise of screens, stress, and busy schedules, achieving that elusive eight hours can seem impossible. Insomnia, sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome—these are just a few of the sleep disorders plaguing millions worldwide.
The Rise of Online Sleep Consulting
Explaining the Concept of Online Sleep ConsultingSo, what exactly is online sleep consulting? Think of it as having a personal sleep coach available at the click of a button. Through virtual consultations, sleep experts assess your sleep habits, identify underlying issues, and design personalized plans to help you reclaim your ZZZs.
Benefits of Seeking Help Online
The beauty of online consulting lies in its accessibility. No need to commute to appointments or rearrange your schedule; you can access professional guidance from anywhere with an internet connection. Plus, with a growing number of certified sleep consultants offering their services online, finding the right fit has never been easier.
Meet Your Online Sleep Consultant
Qualifications and ExpertiseBut who are these sleep consultants, and what qualifies them to guide your slumber? Rest assured, they're not just self-proclaimed "sleep gurus." Many hold advanced degrees in fields like psychology, sleep medicine, or counseling, and undergo rigorous training to become certified sleep coaches.
How They Can Help You
From analyzing your sleep patterns to providing practical strategies, online sleep consultants are your partners in the quest for better sleep. Whether you're struggling with erratic sleep schedules or battling chronic insomnia, they're equipped with the knowledge and tools to address your unique needs.
Understanding Your Sleep Patterns
Importance of Understanding Sleep CyclesOne key aspect of online sleep consulting is gaining insight into your sleep architecture. By deciphering your sleep stages and rhythms, consultants can pinpoint areas for improvement and tailor interventions accordingly.
Tools and Techniques Used by Consultants
So, how do they do it? Through a combination of sleep diaries, questionnaires, and cutting-edge technology, consultants gather data on your sleep habits and preferences. Armed with this information, they devise customized strategies to optimize your sleep quality.
Customized Sleep Plans
Tailoring Strategies to Your Unique NeedsThere's no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to sleep. That's why online Sleep consultant online take a personalized approach to crafting your sleep plan. Whether you're a night owl or an early bird, they'll work with your natural rhythms to develop strategies that stick.
Personalized Recommendations for Better Sleep
From setting a consistent bedtime to creating a calming pre-sleep routine, your sleep plan will be tailored to address your specific challenges and goals. Whether you're aiming for more restful nights or seeking relief from sleep disorders, your consultant will be by your side every step of the way.
Addressing Sleep Disorders
Identifying and Managing Sleep DisordersFor those battling more serious sleep issues like insomnia or sleep apnea, online consulting offers a lifeline. Consultants are trained to recognize the signs of sleep disorders and can provide guidance on managing symptoms, accessing treatment, and improving overall sleep hygiene.
Strategies for Coping with Insomnia, Sleep Apnea, etc.
Whether it's cognitive-behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) or lifestyle modifications for sleep apnea, consultants are well-versed in evidence-based interventions to tackle a range of sleep disorders. With their support, you can take proactive steps towards better sleep and better health.
Creating a Sleep-Friendly Environment
Tips for Optimizing Your Bedroom for SleepYour bedroom should be a sanctuary for sleep, free from distractions and conducive to relaxation. From blackout curtains to white noise machines, consultants can offer recommendations for creating a sleep-friendly environment that promotes restorative rest.
Using Technology to Enhance Sleep Quality
In the digital age, technology isn't just part of the problem—it can also be part of the solution. Consultants can introduce you to apps, wearables, and other gadgets designed to track your sleep, monitor your progress, and even lull you to sleep with soothing sounds or guided meditations.
Developing Healthy Sleep Habits
Importance of Consistent Bedtime RoutineJust like Pavlov's dogs salivated at the sound of a bell, your body responds to cues that it's time to sleep. Establishing a consistent bedtime routine signals to your brain that it's time to wind down, making it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep throughout the night.
Tips for Relaxation and Stress Reduction Before Bed
In today's hyper-connected world, unwinding before bed can be easier said than done. That's where relaxation techniques like deep breathing, meditation, or gentle stretching come in handy. By calming your mind and body, you can ease into sleep more effortlessly.
Diet and Exercise for Better Sleep
Impact of Diet and Exercise on Sleep QualityYou are what you eat—and how you move. Diet and exercise play a crucial role in regulating your sleep-wake cycle and promoting restful slumber. From limiting caffeine and heavy meals before bed to incorporating regular physical activity into your routine, small changes can yield big improvements in your sleep quality.
Recommendations for Improving Sleep Through Lifestyle Changes
Consultants don't just focus on what happens between the sheets—they're interested in your entire lifestyle. By addressing factors like diet, exercise, stress, and screen time, they can help you create habits that support healthy sleep and overall well-being.
Tracking Progress and Adjustments
Using Apps and Devices to Monitor Sleep PatternsIn the age of smartphones and smartwatches, tracking your sleep has never been easier. Consultants may recommend apps or wearable devices that monitor your sleep patterns, providing valuable insights into your nightly habits and trends.
How Consultants Modify Plans Based on Progress
But it's not just about collecting data—it's about using it to drive meaningful change. Consultants will regularly review your progress and adjust your sleep plan as needed, ensuring that you stay on track towards your sleep goals.
Benefits of Online vs. In-Person Consulting
Convenience and Accessibility of Online ServicesGone are the days of waiting weeks for an appointment or trekking across town to see a specialist. With online consulting, help is just a click away. Whether you're a busy parent, a frequent traveler, or simply prefer the comfort of your own home, online services offer unparalleled convenience and flexibility.
Effectiveness Compared to Traditional Methods
But don't let the lack of face-to-face interaction fool you—online consulting is just as effective as in-person sessions, if not more so. Research has shown that virtual interventions can produce significant improvements in sleep quality, making them a viable alternative for those unable to access traditional services.
Success Stories: Real-Life Examples
Testimonials from Clients Who Improved Their SleepStill skeptical? Hear it straight from the source. Countless individuals have transformed their sleep and their lives with the help of online sleep consulting. From chronic insomniacs to weary shift workers, the proof is in the pudding—better sleep is within reach.
Case Studies Highlighting Positive Outcomes
Take, for example, Sarah, a busy executive struggling to juggle work, family, and sleep. After just a few weeks of working with an online sleep consultant, she's sleeping soundly through the night, waking up refreshed, and tackling her days with newfound energy and focus.
Cost and Accessibility
Affordability of Online Sleep ConsultingYou might be wondering, "How much does it cost?" Surprisingly, online sleep consulting is more affordable than you might think. With a range of pricing options to fit every budget, there's no reason to put a price on your health and well-being.
Availability of Services Worldwide
And the best part? Online sleep consulting isn't limited by geography. Whether you're in New York or New Zealand, you can access top-tier sleep expertise without ever leaving your home. The world is your oyster—and a good night's sleep is just a click away.
Getting Started: Tips for Finding the Right Consultant
Factors to Consider When Choosing an Online Sleep ConsultantReady to take the plunge? Before diving in, consider factors like credentials, experience, and specialization. Look for consultants who are certified by reputable organizations and have a track record of success in addressing your specific sleep concerns.
Questions to Ask Before Committing
Still unsure? Don't hesitate to ask questions. A good consultant will be happy to provide information about their approach, methodology, and success rate. After all, your sleep is too important to leave to chance.
Conclusion
Sleep shouldn't be a luxury reserved for the lucky few—it's a fundamental human need that impacts every aspect of our lives. With the rise of online sleep consulting, help is more accessible than ever before. Whether you're struggling with insomnia, sleep apnea, or simply can't seem to switch off at night, there's a solution out there waiting for you. So why wait? Take the first step towards better sleep today and revolutionize your sleep routine for good.FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
- Is online sleep consulting covered by insurance?
- While coverage varies depending on your provider and policy, some insurance plans may reimburse for online sleep consulting services. It's worth checking with your insurer to see what's covered.
- How long does it take to see results from online sleep consulting?
- Results can vary depending on individual circumstances, but many clients report improvements in sleep quality within a few weeks of starting their consultation.
- Can online sleep consulting help with children's sleep issues?
- Absolutely! Many consultants specialize in pediatric sleep and can provide guidance on establishing healthy sleep habits for children of all ages.
- Are online sleep consultants qualified to diagnose sleep disorders?
- While consultants can identify common signs of sleep disorders, they are not licensed medical professionals and cannot provide formal diagnoses. If you suspect you have a sleep disorder, it's important to consult with a physician or sleep specialist for proper evaluation and treatment.
- What if I'm not tech-savvy? Can I still benefit from online sleep consulting?
- Absolutely! Most consultants offer user-friendly platforms and provide support every step of the way. Whether you're a digital native or a technophobe, you'll find online sleep consulting easy to navigate and rewarding in its results.
2024.05.14 11:58 Lord_PanDA_ (Solved) Roku Keeps Freezing - 10 Solutions For You
 | Is your Roku freezing up more often than a popsicle in the North Pole? submitted by Lord_PanDA_ to FixRoku [link] [comments] I’ve got the scoop on how to thaw it out with 10 solutions that have been tried, tested, and proven across various tech forums (and by myself). If you’re looking for a step-by-step guide complete with demo images for each solution, just check out the hyperlink under the solution's name. https://pointerclicker.com/why-does-my-roku-keep-freezing/ Let’s dive into the frosty fixes without freezing up!
https://preview.redd.it/8lr9zjyj7d0d1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=94fc6ba249aada4a26d33f5dcb92aa2960c3b183 |
2024.05.14 11:47 king_ganja1301 I morphed into the presence that haunted me
This is the 2nd dream I've had of myself turning into an evil entity
The first dream I had when I was 17, 2 years ago. I was sleeping and woke up on my back to see myself sitting on my desk at the end of my room. All the lights in my room where on and it felt safe. I spoke with myself about things I don't remember and we laughed. Then this figure who was me kept laughing and laughing and the room got darker and darker with only a red light that seemed to radiate on the figures face. I lunged at it and threw it to the floor and we fought and it started clawing at me and blood covered my hands and face
I ran to my parents and they dismissed me acting like I wasn't even there. I woke up bed. It was a false awakening.
I turned over and closed my eyes only to open them to be standing in front of an old hospital and a voice calling me as i rose into the air and I started crying and saying NO until the voice dropped me. I felt my knees ache and the dirt under my hands. I looked at my hands and saw the blood from the previous dream mixed with the dirt from the ground on my hands.
I woke up ONCE AGAIN and just tried to steady my breathing. I opened my eyes to be standing in an empty field with a single tree I just closed my eyes and when I woke up this time I was covered in sweat. I walked to my parents room and i just cried and cried while my mom held me and I asked her if this was reality
I managed to get past these dreams and sort of accept that I'll never understand them.
The problem is last night I had a dream in a similar vain. I saw myself. It looked as though I was staring at myself in a mirror. He was laughing and looking at me as well. His skin slowly started to go bleach white and his hair grew and grew until it covered his eyes and he just kept laughing and smiling.
I woke up in a cold sweat and ran to my mom and she calmed me down.
I know this dream sounds silly and normally at my big age I'd laugh it off and go back to bed. The problem is that I've seen that man before. The man I became in my dream.
When I was younger I was at a church camp and I went inside the church alone to get something while everyone was outside. I saw a man with bleach white skin and long hair laughing and calling to me. They found me inside and said I had been seizing. Haven't had a seizure before or since.
It's like when I see myself in these dreams, it's as if I'm being lured into a false sense of security and when I drop my guard this thing that appears as me, the person I'm most comfortable with, it reveals itself. It feels like a completely separate being to myself.
I'm worried if this means something and I really hope it doesn't. My friend thinks something is either trying to scare me or trying to posses me. My mom thinks something has been attached to me since I was younger and I'm just a bit worried and scared.
submitted by king_ganja1301 to Dreams [link] [comments]
The first dream I had when I was 17, 2 years ago. I was sleeping and woke up on my back to see myself sitting on my desk at the end of my room. All the lights in my room where on and it felt safe. I spoke with myself about things I don't remember and we laughed. Then this figure who was me kept laughing and laughing and the room got darker and darker with only a red light that seemed to radiate on the figures face. I lunged at it and threw it to the floor and we fought and it started clawing at me and blood covered my hands and face
I ran to my parents and they dismissed me acting like I wasn't even there. I woke up bed. It was a false awakening.
I turned over and closed my eyes only to open them to be standing in front of an old hospital and a voice calling me as i rose into the air and I started crying and saying NO until the voice dropped me. I felt my knees ache and the dirt under my hands. I looked at my hands and saw the blood from the previous dream mixed with the dirt from the ground on my hands.
I woke up ONCE AGAIN and just tried to steady my breathing. I opened my eyes to be standing in an empty field with a single tree I just closed my eyes and when I woke up this time I was covered in sweat. I walked to my parents room and i just cried and cried while my mom held me and I asked her if this was reality
I managed to get past these dreams and sort of accept that I'll never understand them.
The problem is last night I had a dream in a similar vain. I saw myself. It looked as though I was staring at myself in a mirror. He was laughing and looking at me as well. His skin slowly started to go bleach white and his hair grew and grew until it covered his eyes and he just kept laughing and smiling.
I woke up in a cold sweat and ran to my mom and she calmed me down.
I know this dream sounds silly and normally at my big age I'd laugh it off and go back to bed. The problem is that I've seen that man before. The man I became in my dream.
When I was younger I was at a church camp and I went inside the church alone to get something while everyone was outside. I saw a man with bleach white skin and long hair laughing and calling to me. They found me inside and said I had been seizing. Haven't had a seizure before or since.
It's like when I see myself in these dreams, it's as if I'm being lured into a false sense of security and when I drop my guard this thing that appears as me, the person I'm most comfortable with, it reveals itself. It feels like a completely separate being to myself.
I'm worried if this means something and I really hope it doesn't. My friend thinks something is either trying to scare me or trying to posses me. My mom thinks something has been attached to me since I was younger and I'm just a bit worried and scared.
2024.05.14 11:41 TBPING Xbox360 slim ( electric sound ) when i press button to turn it on
Hello everyone, i have xbox 360 slim when i try to turn it on its work fine and i have tried to play and everything is stable, but when I turn it off and turn it on again this what happened it gave me electric sound and it’s not work ,but if I unplug the power cable and put it back again it will work fine !! Where exactly the problem??!
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/B4GUKfPIKOM
EDIT: Basically, I want to update system and when the xbox finished updating, it restarted itself but it didn't work and no green light appeared. I tried to turn it on by myself and it started making this strange sound. this is how I discovered the problem.
then I said why don't I check the ports, maybe it is the reason, After several times of checking, I noticed that when I disconnect the HDMI cable from the port, the device works perfectly, even if I keep pressing the power button a lot.
Which means that the device has a problem with the HDMI port, but I do not know if it is an electrical weakness or if the port is not working well.
submitted by TBPING to 360hacks [link] [comments]
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/B4GUKfPIKOM
EDIT: Basically, I want to update system and when the xbox finished updating, it restarted itself but it didn't work and no green light appeared. I tried to turn it on by myself and it started making this strange sound. this is how I discovered the problem.
then I said why don't I check the ports, maybe it is the reason, After several times of checking, I noticed that when I disconnect the HDMI cable from the port, the device works perfectly, even if I keep pressing the power button a lot.
Which means that the device has a problem with the HDMI port, but I do not know if it is an electrical weakness or if the port is not working well.
2024.05.14 11:33 Emryss101020 Andriod phone screen goes black out of nowhere but continues to work. Please help!
My Samsung A12 has been beaten up pretty bad. I got it in 2021. The screen is cracked, the SIMcard tray is broken (SIM card itself is fine), I got the 'No SIM card' notif for MONTHS and would have to pull out the tray and push it back in, and the storage is wrecked. I get a full storage notification with 4 apps installed. But, even that, overall it withstood a lot of stuff. Its a hefty phone for me.
Recently, the screen has been going black. I thought something had changed and the timeout time had reset to 15 seconds or something since it first happened when watching youtube, but now it happens every couple minutes.
It's not broken because it goes off, and if I push the off button, I can hear the phone's screen-turn-off sound. It's like a little click. Then, I turn it back on again and its like It never happened. I have uninstalled apps, restarted, checked for updates, and nothing seems to have fixed it. I'm fine with it since its not super constant, It's just getting annoying.
I'm a very sentimental person and I like to keep things until they fully die out. This phone got me all the way through middle school and frankly i'd like to hold onto it as long as I can. Any other advice or things to try I'd love to hear it.
Thank you!!
submitted by Emryss101020 to AndroidQuestions [link] [comments]
Recently, the screen has been going black. I thought something had changed and the timeout time had reset to 15 seconds or something since it first happened when watching youtube, but now it happens every couple minutes.
It's not broken because it goes off, and if I push the off button, I can hear the phone's screen-turn-off sound. It's like a little click. Then, I turn it back on again and its like It never happened. I have uninstalled apps, restarted, checked for updates, and nothing seems to have fixed it. I'm fine with it since its not super constant, It's just getting annoying.
I'm a very sentimental person and I like to keep things until they fully die out. This phone got me all the way through middle school and frankly i'd like to hold onto it as long as I can. Any other advice or things to try I'd love to hear it.
Thank you!!
2024.05.14 11:22 Starlit_pies Cities of the Potentate: Port Katariah
Some cities are like forests - they grow on their own, spreading towards water, rising tall towards the sun. You can see the old growth, ancient and covered by moss, the broad swatches left by the fires, the fresh saplings of the growing housing.
Some cities are like ships. Even standing still, they embark on the journey across the world. Their citizen-crew comes and goes, always building, repairing, maintaining, stitching up the sails of the marketplace awnings. And their underside is dark, slimy, encrusted with barnacles and in need of cleaning.
Some cities are planned and built. Even when the last stone is set and the last shingle put in place, you still see the ink on paper, the precise lines plotted with the ruler and compass. If you look up, you may glimpse the eye of the architect looking on their creation.
And some cities are the divine bodies, the vestiges of the power and the will of their planners, and the receptacle of the belief. In the words of Saint Vivec: They add new doors to me and I become effortlessly trans-immortal with the comings and goings and the stride-heat of the market where I am traded for, yell of the children hear them play, scoffed at, amused, desired, paid for in native coin, new minted with my face on one side and my city-body on the other. I stare with each new window. Soon I am a million-eyed insect dreaming.
Such cities are rare gems, and everyone knows their names. White-Gold, the dissected structure of Ayleid soul, circles upon circles, the mapping of heavens imposed on the island of the Earthbones. Falinesti, a slow wandering giant, the reminder of what the world may have looked in the times of the first Elhnofey. Vivec, the lie turned into the truth and held off by the love to itself.
Few of us dreamed to witness the act of urban apotheosis in our lifetime. And yet, if you go down the Niben river, you will arrive to it - the recently built Port Katariah. It is not shaped in vulgar symmetry, but neither does it follow the landscape slavishly. If seen from above, the city would look like a giant hook, puling a piece of land into the Niben River. The handle of the hook is a breakwater, terminating in a giant lighthouse.
The whole architecture of the city is massive and solid, with sloped walls, oblique angles, windowless outer surfaces of gray ash-cement. Covered walkways, blunted pyramids of the housing quarters. Dunmer may say it is a memory of Vivec's ziggurats, but in actuality, the inspiration was taken from the ancient blueprints of Reman's lunar settlement. Designed to withstand the magica storms of outer Aetherus, it serves well against the weathers of the Topal Bay. Whether it will be a seasonal rain that doesn't let up for months, or giant waves brought by the clashing currents.
The inside of the of the housing pyramids is the direct opposite of the outside. The brutal angularity is broken down into the mer-men-sized cozyness of a cave. Tilted twisting corridors, comfortable nooks and crannies, benches of thick softwood. The enchanted lanterns cast the pure untainted golden light of Magnus-Sun.
It serves not only for pleasure of the eye, but allows to bring the agriculture under the roof. The fruit-bearing plants cover the walls, with the streams of water running endlessly from top to bottom, filling the corridors with its soft melody. Each pyramid is a self-sufficient creature, taking only water and air to create food for its inhabitants.
The clever narrow window-slits of Alteration-infused crystal are not seen from the outside, but give a perfect view of the waves breaking against the walls of the city even in the worst storm. Together with the dampening of the sound - for the corridors are both designed and enchanted with Illusion to not spread even the softest echo - it creates an impression as otherworldly as any Daedric realm.
All taken together, the city is the perfect embodiment of the worship and belief of our Potentate. The contradiction thrust upon itself, a hardened ash-shell protecting the luxurious gardens. An artificial cliff, raised to meet every wave of challenge at oblique angle. The seed of the old novelty grown into the new tradition.
YgM: It took some arrogance and stupidity to choose the only place on the coast where the waves can get higher than the trees, and put the city there. And it's a boring place, with the current population of soldiers and sailors rattling in the halls built for hundreds of thousands, like dried peas in a pod.
The sensory deprivation effect of the sound dampening doesn't help either. They tell that some of the first wave of the settlers went mad and still wander the corridors, always taking just the wrong turn. No wonder drinking is the main pastime - fortunately all those fruits make a decent shein.
And I don't stand for all that architectural mysticism. 'City as a divine body', my ass. Although I'm sure the guys from Port Topal would say their city is the divine geometry of Baan Dar.
submitted by Starlit_pies to PGE_4 [link] [comments]
Some cities are like ships. Even standing still, they embark on the journey across the world. Their citizen-crew comes and goes, always building, repairing, maintaining, stitching up the sails of the marketplace awnings. And their underside is dark, slimy, encrusted with barnacles and in need of cleaning.
Some cities are planned and built. Even when the last stone is set and the last shingle put in place, you still see the ink on paper, the precise lines plotted with the ruler and compass. If you look up, you may glimpse the eye of the architect looking on their creation.
And some cities are the divine bodies, the vestiges of the power and the will of their planners, and the receptacle of the belief. In the words of Saint Vivec: They add new doors to me and I become effortlessly trans-immortal with the comings and goings and the stride-heat of the market where I am traded for, yell of the children hear them play, scoffed at, amused, desired, paid for in native coin, new minted with my face on one side and my city-body on the other. I stare with each new window. Soon I am a million-eyed insect dreaming.
Such cities are rare gems, and everyone knows their names. White-Gold, the dissected structure of Ayleid soul, circles upon circles, the mapping of heavens imposed on the island of the Earthbones. Falinesti, a slow wandering giant, the reminder of what the world may have looked in the times of the first Elhnofey. Vivec, the lie turned into the truth and held off by the love to itself.
Few of us dreamed to witness the act of urban apotheosis in our lifetime. And yet, if you go down the Niben river, you will arrive to it - the recently built Port Katariah. It is not shaped in vulgar symmetry, but neither does it follow the landscape slavishly. If seen from above, the city would look like a giant hook, puling a piece of land into the Niben River. The handle of the hook is a breakwater, terminating in a giant lighthouse.
The whole architecture of the city is massive and solid, with sloped walls, oblique angles, windowless outer surfaces of gray ash-cement. Covered walkways, blunted pyramids of the housing quarters. Dunmer may say it is a memory of Vivec's ziggurats, but in actuality, the inspiration was taken from the ancient blueprints of Reman's lunar settlement. Designed to withstand the magica storms of outer Aetherus, it serves well against the weathers of the Topal Bay. Whether it will be a seasonal rain that doesn't let up for months, or giant waves brought by the clashing currents.
The inside of the of the housing pyramids is the direct opposite of the outside. The brutal angularity is broken down into the mer-men-sized cozyness of a cave. Tilted twisting corridors, comfortable nooks and crannies, benches of thick softwood. The enchanted lanterns cast the pure untainted golden light of Magnus-Sun.
It serves not only for pleasure of the eye, but allows to bring the agriculture under the roof. The fruit-bearing plants cover the walls, with the streams of water running endlessly from top to bottom, filling the corridors with its soft melody. Each pyramid is a self-sufficient creature, taking only water and air to create food for its inhabitants.
The clever narrow window-slits of Alteration-infused crystal are not seen from the outside, but give a perfect view of the waves breaking against the walls of the city even in the worst storm. Together with the dampening of the sound - for the corridors are both designed and enchanted with Illusion to not spread even the softest echo - it creates an impression as otherworldly as any Daedric realm.
All taken together, the city is the perfect embodiment of the worship and belief of our Potentate. The contradiction thrust upon itself, a hardened ash-shell protecting the luxurious gardens. An artificial cliff, raised to meet every wave of challenge at oblique angle. The seed of the old novelty grown into the new tradition.
YgM: It took some arrogance and stupidity to choose the only place on the coast where the waves can get higher than the trees, and put the city there. And it's a boring place, with the current population of soldiers and sailors rattling in the halls built for hundreds of thousands, like dried peas in a pod.
The sensory deprivation effect of the sound dampening doesn't help either. They tell that some of the first wave of the settlers went mad and still wander the corridors, always taking just the wrong turn. No wonder drinking is the main pastime - fortunately all those fruits make a decent shein.
And I don't stand for all that architectural mysticism. 'City as a divine body', my ass. Although I'm sure the guys from Port Topal would say their city is the divine geometry of Baan Dar.
2024.05.14 11:21 AdmiralStone96230-A MURDER DRONES: Fall of Earth -Chapter XII: Reunions and Relishing in Calm-
Wade took a breath as he picked up his old duffel bag, now loaded with his DD uniform and a few other items from the Ceres mines as he slotted it to his side, with the large band handle around his neck. Having gathered his belongings, he joined Tina, who was waiting near the ship's open bay door as he walked over to her. The couple watched several of the other troopers inside marching out as well, some carrying crates of supplies and items out of the craft as they departed for the base outside. Kelly was one of the last ones still on board, checking on a section of the cargo bay as she did what Wade presumed was some maintenance work.
With the way now clear, Wade and Tina stepped off the transport, glancing at the massive base around them as they touched the roughened pavement. Throughout the large landing port were several more chameleon dropships, their crews disembarking with similar items and loads of rescued drones aboard. Beyond the ships were several hangar bays and fighter craft, mostly A-20s and their space-borne cousins docked in lines going across the pad. And beyond the landing zone, towering over several buildings at the base, were the few cruisers docked to the large clamps holding them in place.
Walking ahead with Tina, Wade observed some of the departing Coalition troops as they neared one of several tents stationed near an inactive group of planes, the military personnel interacting and exchanging the crates with the Coalition officers upon reaching each other. Hearing a low roar of engines from afar, the lover drones looked upward to see the large USN warship that was present at the factory earlier, having followed the transport convoy home and now was beginning to descend for landing. Wade gave a silent gasp as he caught a glimpse of the ship's name and SIC number at the side, remembering it from the ship he and Ron saw while returning to Earth.
"Always a wondrous thing to see, isn't it Wade?" Tina said as she and her boyfriend watched the ship slowly come lower to the unoccupied dockyard clamps below it.
"Sure is, wonder how they built those babies?" Wade replied as the two looked upon the landing starship, the former worker drone smirking as he added, "I could've swore I saw that same exact ship over Henderson when Ron and I came back, before we got mugged earlier."
Tina glanced to Wade with surprise as she spoke up on his claim. "Really? Well, that had to be the one that helped our friends here back at the factory. I think I saw the same name on it too!"
"Wouldn't surprise me, seeing all that's happened today." Wade replied as he chortled a bit, Tina doing the same as the former spoke further. "I wonder, what kind of ship is the... Vickers again? You know?"
"Autumn class, dear. A heavy destroyer variant, not as strong as those enormous Yamato dreadnoughts or Adelaide battlecruisers, but she'll put up a good fight for whatever comes at her." Tina explained as she held back another chuckle, thinking of her education on various USN craft as she teased Wade lightly. "You know, I may just have to grab one of those ship roster tabs when we get in the base. I'd love to show you all they got in their arsenal."
Wade chortled again as he gave his thoughts on the idea. "Well, it wouldn't be bad to have a little more knowledge in ship-story."
Tina almost burst out laughing at his crude pun, Wade smiling at her as F and Nathan jogged over to the two, the latter carrying his own backpack behind him as he spoke. "Well, not a bad place, huh? You guys heading to the clearance station?"
"Oh yes, we were just admiring the ships around us while we walked." Tina said with a stifled laugh, easing herself as she chatted with her new friends. Wade, however, was quickly overcome with panic as he remembered something. Checking his pockets, his fears were confirmed as he failed to find one of his key possessions: his ID card. Wade felt he must have lost it when he was stripped of his old clothing while in the factory.
Oh no, guys? I don't think I can pass through." Wade said with greenish-yellow circles for eyes as Tina and the others looked to him in concern, the drone feeling through his pockets once more before stating his issue. "My ID, they must've taken it off me when they turned me into a disassembly drone!" Wade began to hyperventilate lightly as he grew fearful of the potential outcomes when they reached the security gate ahead. "Oouuugghh, if I don't have my ID, they'll have to keep me lo-"
"Wade, Wade... it's okay. I'll have them make a pass for you, surely we can get them to after getting them to understand what's happened." Tina stated as she put her hand to Wade's chest, who eased his panic as he looked to his girlfriend.
"Yeah, and besides Wade, those people over there went around gathering what ever items the company stole from the drones during their conversion. I'm sure that once they find it, they'll have it sent off to be given back to you!" Nathan said as F nodded in agreement, shunting Wade's panic out of him with their words as he replied to the hopeful responses.
"Right, yeah, they should do that. Sorry." Holding Tina's hand, Wade spoke to her once more. "Lead the way."
Tina nodded to Wade before the two began to walk over to the security gate nearby, several people, drones and humans alike, already in the line as they checked themselves in to the base to relax after the hard-fought battle. Once they reached the line, the four stood together as they waited for the line to slowly go up, more troops and rescued drones coming over to add to the long line. During the wait, a loud, mechanical 'SLAM' erupted through the air, prompting Wade and Tina to glance over to the direction of the noise. The two felt at ease once more as they saw the Vickers finally landed at the base, the loud clang being the docking clamps attaching to the ships hull just moments ago.
As the line moved up further to the gate, Wade and Tina caught sight of a pair of A-20 aircraft passing over them, the two watching as the planes slowed down while descending onto the runway nearby. The four drones' collective viewing of the fighters landing ceased as they caught sight of J, who took flight as she departed the transport nearby before flying over to the tents near the hangar bays.
"Huh, wonder what she's over there for?" Nathan said as he observed J landing onto the ground in front of one of the tents.
"Probably checking on the drones we got back, or meeting up with one of those commanders there." F said as she motioned an arm towards the tents, J walking under one as she made her way to one of the soldiers coming over to her. "Seems like the latter, from the looks of it."
Wade shrugged as he responded to the group's pondering over J's actions. "Well, she'll be here with us if we need her, right? Shouldn't be much to worry about."
Returning their focus to the line ahead, Wade and his team waited as the line moved up over the next few minutes, moving impressively fast as the people in front cleared themselves in one at a time. Eventually, the four of them were up, Tina stepping up to show her ID for clearance. "Hello, it's been a busy day, hasn't it?"
The security agent smirked at Tina's small-talk. "Hah, not too busy here until you all showed up."
As the guard finished scanning Tina's ID, she handed the card back to her as she raised a finger to begin her request. "Oh, um, there's a little issue we need to resolve." Putting a hand to Wade's arm, Tina explained her boyfriend. "This is my dear friend Wade, Wade Carter. We both managed to escape that blasted factory with the help of those Coalition folks there." Wade gave a pleading look as Tina continued. "Unfortunately, Wade was converted into a disassembly drone before he was rescued, and it seems those people at the company took all his belongings he had on him, including his ID. Do you think there's... anyway you could write up something to let him by?"
Stepping forward, F gave her end of the story. "I can vouch for him, Ma'am. Wade and I we're among the teams helping in getting the worker drones out of the factory during the operation." The disassembly drone pulled out a pair of cards as she finished her explanation, one of them being her company-issued Disassembly Service Passcard, which resembled a normal civilian ID in appearance, save for the 'JCJenson (In Spaaace!) Logo on the top left and hazard markings around the rim of the card. As for the other card, it was a well worn, still legitimate ID card, showing F as how she appeared when she was a worker drone. At the side of her picture was a name with an initial. "FELICITY A LEE"
Taking the two cards in her hand, she looked them over and scanned them as Nathan tried to back Wade up as well. "So can I, Ma'am! I helped there too, when he was under the company's control. We all got him out of the factory so we could get him back in order." Pulling out his own ID, Nathan handed it out as the guard returned F's IDs to her.
The guard accepted Nathan's ID as she spoke over what to do with Wade. "Well, normally it takes clearance from higher ranked personnel here to allow someone inside without a legitimate form of identification. We can't just take someone's word on things like this, after all." Tina seemed to frown in disappointment as the guard explained her protocols, Wade looking down at the ground as he felt his worries were about to be proven correct. Going over Nathan's ID further, she gave an intrigued expression at the card before continuing. "Huh, interesting. Got two veteran folks here, I see?" She glanced to Nathan and F as she said that, taking into account their former military background as the former spoke up.
"Three, actually. My pal Kurtis is somewhere back there, I think. He should be heading down here later this evening." The guard glanced back at Nathan's ID as she took in the veteran drone's reply, sighing as she decided to make a slight amendment to the issue put before her and the four friends.
"Well, seeing you two here, I believe I can write something up. The Major won't be happy with me for this, but I think I can trust you with appropriate behavior." Taking a small sticky name-tag, the woman pulled out a pen before starting to write on it. Initially, she glanced to Wade, who stated his name again before she began to write his name on the tag. Once she was finished, the guard gave the tag to Wade, who slapped it onto his jacket before she spoke to him. "You should be fine to enter for the most part, just stick close to your friends and don't cause any trouble. Understood?"
Wade gave a stern salute to the security officer, who held back a chuckle at the honest, yet amusing effort the disassembly drone showed to her. Giving a simple nod and a flick of her hand, she permitted Wade and his friends entrance to the base, the four walking past the walkway barricades as they made their way past the gate.
Wade let out a heavy sigh of relief as he thanked his allies. "I owe you both so much for this, thanks!"
"Don't mention it, Wade." F said warmly as she and Nathan laughed at his joyful face.
"Yeah, just doing what any good friend should." Nathan said as Tina wrapped an arm around Wade, holding him tightly as the two walked together.
Looking to his girlfriend, Wade spoke to Tina about what to do next. "Well, since we're in, you wanna go fi-" He ceased his words as he remembered that there was someone else they needed to find amongst the base. "Oh, I almost forgot about her,"
"Jasmine!" Tina and Wade said aloud together as the former remembered her sister, Wade's words snapping her mind to Jasmine in an instant. "We should look for her, you think she might be here somewhere?"
"Probably. If they got Ron after they captured me, they have to 've picked her up too." Wade stated, Nathan raising a hand as he offered to help.
"I could go looking for her! You know what she looks like?" Readying a holo-projector, he tried to display an image of Jasmine from one of his many memories of her. The picture was, while pixelated and under a blue hue, incredibly well-detailed. And for Nathan, that was all he needed to see to note Jasmine's appearance in his memory. Nodding, he spoke again to his friends. "Got it! I'll see if she's around!" Then, turning to run down one of the paths leading to a nearby base facility, he stopped as he asked one more question. "Oh! One more thing, you got a smartcomm on ya, Wade?"
Readying one from his holo-projector hand, he nodded as he spoke into it. "Seems so, though I don't seem to have all my contacts added in."
Running back over, Nathan pulled out his own smartcomm before putting it up against Wade's hand one, allowing the two devices to exchange information. Upon the devices beeping, Wade and Nathan nodded to each other, the former ignoring a pop-up that stated, "New Contact Added" while the latter spoke once more. "Okay, I'll call you once I spot her!" With that, he began running down the path once more, intent on finding Tina's sister at the base, wherever she could be.
"Fowley! Her last name's Fowley!" Tina said aloud to the departing Nathan, hoping he heard her words before turning away from the miner drone and facing Wade and F again.
As Tina sighed in partial relief, Wade put his own arm around her before asking the question he tried to ask before. "So, uh, with that out of the way for now... You wanna go look for one of those ship tabs?"
Putting a hand to Wade's chest, Tina smiled as she replied. "Oh, certainly." Then, as the three began walking down a different path that Nathan hadn't taken, the pilot drone continued with a chuckle. "I hear they have a place here that sells model kits too!"
...
Jasmine sat in silent sorrow as she took another gulp of her glass of Proxi-Vodka, a tasty, but heavy alcoholic beverage produced at the colony of Proxima 2... and one of Jasmine's preferred drinks to have when she wasn't in a good mood. When she awoke after being stunned by the station guards, she found that she was just recovered by a group that called themselves the 'United Earth Coalition', and that her drone friend, Tina, was unfortunately taken by the JCJenson corporation to be turned into one of their horrid disassembly drones. While the people that saved her offered to help her find Tina, so far there had been no luck in doing so. No successful calls, no response from Wade nor Ron, nothing.
The whole situation widdled at her like scrapes to her form, slowly draining any bit of hope that she had in finding her sister. And once the mission at that factory was over, the ship began heading back to the Nellis Base to escort the recovered drones back to a safe area. Unfortunately for Jasmine, Tina's presence was not given confirmation. Alone, she walked off to one of the bars down at the base, specifically Drexler's Cantina, one of the more popular bars down at the military starport. Thankfully, though she didn't openly exhibit feelings of wanting to be alone in her wallowing, she was glad the place was nearly barren of patrons, with only a few at a couple of tables within the bar.
The stage at the back of the bar also had a few singer drones performing aloud, the lead singer girl reciting the words of a quiet, yet exciting song that, instrumentally, consisted of a strange mix of bass, techno, and a hint of opera. The song itself was one Jasmine had heard a good many times before in her life, known as, 'You Complete My World' by a decades old Earth band by the name of HeartStar. The song, as Jasmine and many others who'd heard it interpreted it, was about someone who described their world like a puzzle, and that the one whom the main singer cared for beyond all was the only thing that could keep their world from shattering into ruin before them.
An oddly fitting tune, given what had just happened on the JCJ Central earlier. For all Jasmine knew, Tina was either alive beyond her knowledge, hopefully searching for her wherever she could, or, the answer Jasmine feared... Dead.
Not wanting to even consider the thought, the human pilot took another swig of the colonial Vodka, relishing in its taste before forcing herself to swallow, almost gagging from the strength of the drink. Easing herself, she glanced out to one of the windows of the bar, taking the faint glimpse of night into her eyes. Then, looking to the clock at the wall ahead of her, she saw the time was about a little over an hour to 10 pm. Jasmine gave a sigh to herself, certain she would be alone for the rest of the night.
Unbeknownst to her, however, Jasmine had been spied upon a little while ago. Nathan, in his search for the woman Tina called Jasmine Fowley, had spotted a woman matching the physical appearance of the target. Knowing Jasmine wouldn't know who he was if he tried to talk to her himself, Nathan immediately went looking for Wade, easing his return to his team by calling the former worker drone and signaling him about his findings.
Deciding to check on the news, Jasmine slowly pulled out her smartcomm, resisting her urge to press the contacts button as she tapped the news app. Looking through it, she spotted a recent story that was posted just over an hour ago, titled, "JCJenson 'Recall' effort sabotaged by joint Government/Militia forces! The Truth Exposed!" Above the article was a video, a play button in front of it teasing Jasmine. Curious over this sudden development, she pressed the button, her attention in complete focus on the video as it began to play.
After the news station's logo appeared on-screen for a short few seconds, the current host for the story, Mrs. Tiffany Joy, appeared at her seat before beginning the story. "Good evening, this is Nevada-78, I'm your host, Tiffany Joy. Tonight, we start with a rapid development for the 'drone recall' incidents propagated by the business conglomerate JCJenson In Space. Throughout the afternoon up to now, several advanced factories under the ownership of the corporation have fallen under violent assault by various militarized forces, ranging from official United Nations operatives to private militia groups with varying goals." The small screen to Joy's left shifted to show the state of Nevada, zooming into it to show a portion of the Mojave desert as Joy continued her story.
"Among these facilities, one such factory based right here in southern Nevada has recently succumbed to the successful efforts of the USN Defense Force and a group by the name of the United Earth Coalition, an alliance consisting of humans and automatons working to create a unified world for both species." The screen shifted again to show the logo for the UEC, which appeared as one half of a human head outline and another of a drone's, along with two arms behind the heads belonging to both beings pictured. "With the attack having concluded just hours ago, we have reporters gathering at the New Nellis Staryards near Henderson City to bring you the aftermath of the conflict. We go to Mr. Jelico, on the scene in five."
The camera shifted after the countdown of five to show Mr. Jelico in front of the camera, the cameraman filming a large tent housing several worker drones being tended to by the base soldiers. "Alright, Jelico here, we're on station at New Nellis. What you're all seeing here are some of the recovered worker drones, many of them were pretty spooked by the events that unfolded in that factory earlier." As the camera panned over the lot of drones, some of them looked to the camera, curious at the news crew filming them as Jelico continued. "A few of them are real glad to be here, Joy. Seems like they feel safe here, as far as I can tell."
As the camera moved to show Jelico again, a plane could be seen taking off as he spoke. "Yeah, these people did them quite a service. The staff here are working to find their original owners and families, it'll probably be a little bit before they can get them all home." The camera switched once again to another view of the base, the lights of various buildings illuminating the night as the news story continued.
At the entrance, Nathan pushed open the door to the bar, the chime failing to catch anyone's attention as he, Wade, F and Tina stepped inside. Carefully pointing at Jasmine, he whispered to Tina, "That's her, from the looks of it. She's been here for a good minute!"
Taking another drink of the Proxi-Vodka, Jasmine listened further to the story. "The authorities didn't just recover a majority of the worker drones taken into the factory, however. A recent update provided by Mrs. Yuka, shows her interviewing a disassembly drone who claims to be among the unfortunate drones the assault force failed to save before their conversion."
"Jasmine!" Tina called out, the voice instantly grabbing the woman's attention as she paused the news story. Swiftly turning her head, her heart began pounding with immense excitement as she saw her drone sister, who grinned upon seeing her face.
"Tina!" Jasmine said aloud, somewhat weakly from her previous wallowing as she tried to run over to her sister, landing on her knees as the two embraced in a flush of emotions. Wade and his friends stood behind the two girls as they hugged each other, clinging onto one another as tightly as they could give. Jasmine seemed to erupt with a pained cough as she allowed some of her sorrow out of her heart, Tina carressing her back in a comforting manner as she held back her own tears. The sisters held the hug for a long moment, not daring to let go of one another for fear of losing each other again. Eventually, however, they did, the two sisters taking heavy breaths as Jasmine spoke up while wiping her face. "I thought I'd lost you."
"Can't say I didn't feel the same way, love." Tina replied as she broke out in light laughter, glancing to Wade before continuing. "But, fortunately, those Coalition boys helped out quite a bit. Though, not as much as my knight in his new armor."
Standing herself up, Jasmine took Tina's helping hand as she looked to the one her sister spoke of. A grateful smile formed on Jasmine's face as she saw Wade, standing in front of her and Tina as he returned the expression. Looking upon her family friend, Jasmine noticed something... different about Wade. He was taller now, his arms were shaped like white cones rather than the silver bendy tubes he and Tina normally had. As for his face, his pure green eyes were replaced with a set of greenish-yellow ones, and above his forehead was a band holding five yellow bulbs that she didn't know the function of.
While the pieces started to click together in her head, Jasmine took Wade's held out hand as she spoke to him. "Wade, I'm so glad to see you! You look different, too. Did something... happen to you?" She already guessed it by this point, but feigned confusion as she opted to hear Wade's take on the matter.
"Yeah, I hope you don't mind your sister dating a vampire from now on." Tina chortled in amusement at Wade's comment at himself, Jasmine raising an eyebrow in confusion at the former worker drone as he returned his expression to a more sincere smile. "The company got me too, and unlike the workers we got out... they managed to turn me into a disassembly drone. From now on, I'm gonna need to take in more oil than I usually did before I was turned. My cooling system's not as good as it should be, from what I've heard." Pulling out his two full canteens, Wade finished his partial explanation. "Don't worry, though. I've got some to keep me down."
Jasmine took in the news with immense surprise, noticing the hazard stripes at the rims of Wade's arms as she replied to her friend. "Oh... Well, if Tina's fine with it, then I see no problem with that, Wade." Admittedly, she was a bit unnerved by the change, concerned for both him and Tina's safety due to this supposed oil coolant issue. Trying to sound as nice as she could on the matter, Jasmine hesitantly asked Wade, "Though... I am a bit concerned with that bad cooling problem you mention. You... don't think you would-"
"Hurt Tina?!" Wade assumed, understanding Jasmine's concern as he gave a horrified glance to the two sisters. Standing with his fists to his hips, he gave his answer to Jasmine's presumed question. "Don't even say such a thing, Jasmine. I'd rather overheat than dare strike her."
Admittedly amused as well as concerned for Wade's selflessness, Tina chuckled at him before speaking up on the matter. "Now now, Wade. It won't be so bad. We'll manage."
Jasmine nodded as she agreed with her sister's optimistic view on the problem. "Indeed we will, we always do." Then, taking notice of the other two drones in the room, Jasmine smiled at them before speaking again. "Ah, I see you brought some friends too."
Wade and Tina glanced over to Nathan and F upon Jasmine's statement, the two friends smiling pleasantly as Wade spoke up. "Oh, yeah. These are some of my work buddies from Ceres, Jasmine. This is Nathan, I first met him when Ron and I came to the mines, showed us around a bit too." Putting a hand on F's shoulder, Wade introduced her too. "And this is Serial Designation F, or, just F. She was one of the guards keeping watch on the place while we worked."
F seemed to blush out of embarrassment as she remembered her and Wade's first meeting. "I... did come off a little rough on them when they first came in, though. Stopped Nathan's touring run too. Just following colony protocol."
Nathan patted F's back as he tried to ease F's guilt. "Oh, it's nothing F. We had to start work in a few minutes anyway. Besides, it's a bit more fun exploring the place yourself without a guide." He winked at the others as he finished his praise. "Trust me, it really is."
Wade, Tina and Jasmine all chuckled at their friend's amusing words, F joining in as she replied to Nathan's encouragement. "Alright, alright."
Walking up to the two, Tina put her hand onto Nathan's as she gave her own praises. "And they may not look like it, dear, but Nathan and F were both formerly in the military, from what Wade's told me."
Jasmine gave a proud smirk at the two as she responded to her sister's claim. "Well, that's quite something. Did she tell you we used to fly for them some years back?"
"Oh, she did, Mrs. Fowley." Nathan replied as he chuckled lightly, F giving a smile of her own as she added her own part to the story.
"Yeah, and given what's happening now, maybe they might call you back for service again. Wade told me you two were excellent pilots."
It was now Jasmine's turn to blush as she chuckled from the compliment, knowing Wade's high praise for her and her sister's flying as she replied. "Well, I can't say that's wrong, Tina saved the day during the flight back here. We ran into an asteroid cluster while in the middle of a jump."
Wade patted Tina on her back as he quietly cheered his love on. "That's what I'm talking about, she's a wonder among the stars, I'm telling you!"
The group fell into an excited fit of laughter at the conversation, a few of the bar patrons taking notice of the bunch as they eventually ceased their joyful moment.
As everyone calmed down, Jasmine spoke up, intending to bring the discussion to another place. "Well, with all that said, it feels great to see you all here. It was such a terrible day after all those company folk showed up." Then, as she scanned the group of friends around her, she noticed someone else missing from this puzzle. "Hey, uh... is Ron here? Did he head off somewhere?"
The mood was quickly put down to a mournful aura as Wade and Tina glanced to the floor in sadness, Nathan and F giving uncomfortable postures as they awaited for someone to speak up on the matter.
Eventually, Wade was the one to open his mouth, breathing steadily as he tried to speak to Jasmine. "Um, Jasmine? Things, uh... really took a nose dive after we got captured. You think we could find a place to sit? It's a lot to talk about."
Looking to the four drones with concern, Jasmine eased her returning fear as she nodded to Wade in agreement. "...Sure, there's plenty of space at the table here." Pointing her arm to the table, which was surrounded by a U-shaped seating bench, Wade and his friends began to move to the table as Tina spoke up.
"I can get us some drinks for the talk, you all want anything?"
"Just some oil, thanks. "Wade answered as F and Nathan gave their own nods to Tina, the drone girl walking over to the bartender near the stage as she went to purchase some beverages.
Sitting down, Jasmine picked up her smartcomm from the table, glancing to it as she spoke up on her half-finished drink. "Heh, and to think I was drowning myself in this drag of a drink before. Probably have to find a different glass."
"Proxi-Vodka? Haven't seen you touch that since we lost Aunt Susan." Wade said solemnly as he examined Jasmine's drink, sighing as he reluctantly continued. "Well, maybe it can go for a few more sips."
Looking to the vodka, Jasmine nodded as she put her smartcomm in her pocket. "I figured, I didn't think this was gonna sound good."
"I wish it did." Wade replied as Tina walked back to the table, a plate of three oil glasses resting on her careful hand as she set it down.
After delivering the drinks, Tina took a seat next to Wade, holding his hand as Jasmine spoke up. "So, where do we start this terrible story?"
Wade gulped a bit as he began to recount the events that transpired today. "Well, it all started when Ron and I came back from the mining colony."
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With the way now clear, Wade and Tina stepped off the transport, glancing at the massive base around them as they touched the roughened pavement. Throughout the large landing port were several more chameleon dropships, their crews disembarking with similar items and loads of rescued drones aboard. Beyond the ships were several hangar bays and fighter craft, mostly A-20s and their space-borne cousins docked in lines going across the pad. And beyond the landing zone, towering over several buildings at the base, were the few cruisers docked to the large clamps holding them in place.
Walking ahead with Tina, Wade observed some of the departing Coalition troops as they neared one of several tents stationed near an inactive group of planes, the military personnel interacting and exchanging the crates with the Coalition officers upon reaching each other. Hearing a low roar of engines from afar, the lover drones looked upward to see the large USN warship that was present at the factory earlier, having followed the transport convoy home and now was beginning to descend for landing. Wade gave a silent gasp as he caught a glimpse of the ship's name and SIC number at the side, remembering it from the ship he and Ron saw while returning to Earth.
"Always a wondrous thing to see, isn't it Wade?" Tina said as she and her boyfriend watched the ship slowly come lower to the unoccupied dockyard clamps below it.
"Sure is, wonder how they built those babies?" Wade replied as the two looked upon the landing starship, the former worker drone smirking as he added, "I could've swore I saw that same exact ship over Henderson when Ron and I came back, before we got mugged earlier."
Tina glanced to Wade with surprise as she spoke up on his claim. "Really? Well, that had to be the one that helped our friends here back at the factory. I think I saw the same name on it too!"
"Wouldn't surprise me, seeing all that's happened today." Wade replied as he chortled a bit, Tina doing the same as the former spoke further. "I wonder, what kind of ship is the... Vickers again? You know?"
"Autumn class, dear. A heavy destroyer variant, not as strong as those enormous Yamato dreadnoughts or Adelaide battlecruisers, but she'll put up a good fight for whatever comes at her." Tina explained as she held back another chuckle, thinking of her education on various USN craft as she teased Wade lightly. "You know, I may just have to grab one of those ship roster tabs when we get in the base. I'd love to show you all they got in their arsenal."
Wade chortled again as he gave his thoughts on the idea. "Well, it wouldn't be bad to have a little more knowledge in ship-story."
Tina almost burst out laughing at his crude pun, Wade smiling at her as F and Nathan jogged over to the two, the latter carrying his own backpack behind him as he spoke. "Well, not a bad place, huh? You guys heading to the clearance station?"
"Oh yes, we were just admiring the ships around us while we walked." Tina said with a stifled laugh, easing herself as she chatted with her new friends. Wade, however, was quickly overcome with panic as he remembered something. Checking his pockets, his fears were confirmed as he failed to find one of his key possessions: his ID card. Wade felt he must have lost it when he was stripped of his old clothing while in the factory.
Oh no, guys? I don't think I can pass through." Wade said with greenish-yellow circles for eyes as Tina and the others looked to him in concern, the drone feeling through his pockets once more before stating his issue. "My ID, they must've taken it off me when they turned me into a disassembly drone!" Wade began to hyperventilate lightly as he grew fearful of the potential outcomes when they reached the security gate ahead. "Oouuugghh, if I don't have my ID, they'll have to keep me lo-"
"Wade, Wade... it's okay. I'll have them make a pass for you, surely we can get them to after getting them to understand what's happened." Tina stated as she put her hand to Wade's chest, who eased his panic as he looked to his girlfriend.
"Yeah, and besides Wade, those people over there went around gathering what ever items the company stole from the drones during their conversion. I'm sure that once they find it, they'll have it sent off to be given back to you!" Nathan said as F nodded in agreement, shunting Wade's panic out of him with their words as he replied to the hopeful responses.
"Right, yeah, they should do that. Sorry." Holding Tina's hand, Wade spoke to her once more. "Lead the way."
Tina nodded to Wade before the two began to walk over to the security gate nearby, several people, drones and humans alike, already in the line as they checked themselves in to the base to relax after the hard-fought battle. Once they reached the line, the four stood together as they waited for the line to slowly go up, more troops and rescued drones coming over to add to the long line. During the wait, a loud, mechanical 'SLAM' erupted through the air, prompting Wade and Tina to glance over to the direction of the noise. The two felt at ease once more as they saw the Vickers finally landed at the base, the loud clang being the docking clamps attaching to the ships hull just moments ago.
As the line moved up further to the gate, Wade and Tina caught sight of a pair of A-20 aircraft passing over them, the two watching as the planes slowed down while descending onto the runway nearby. The four drones' collective viewing of the fighters landing ceased as they caught sight of J, who took flight as she departed the transport nearby before flying over to the tents near the hangar bays.
"Huh, wonder what she's over there for?" Nathan said as he observed J landing onto the ground in front of one of the tents.
"Probably checking on the drones we got back, or meeting up with one of those commanders there." F said as she motioned an arm towards the tents, J walking under one as she made her way to one of the soldiers coming over to her. "Seems like the latter, from the looks of it."
Wade shrugged as he responded to the group's pondering over J's actions. "Well, she'll be here with us if we need her, right? Shouldn't be much to worry about."
Returning their focus to the line ahead, Wade and his team waited as the line moved up over the next few minutes, moving impressively fast as the people in front cleared themselves in one at a time. Eventually, the four of them were up, Tina stepping up to show her ID for clearance. "Hello, it's been a busy day, hasn't it?"
The security agent smirked at Tina's small-talk. "Hah, not too busy here until you all showed up."
As the guard finished scanning Tina's ID, she handed the card back to her as she raised a finger to begin her request. "Oh, um, there's a little issue we need to resolve." Putting a hand to Wade's arm, Tina explained her boyfriend. "This is my dear friend Wade, Wade Carter. We both managed to escape that blasted factory with the help of those Coalition folks there." Wade gave a pleading look as Tina continued. "Unfortunately, Wade was converted into a disassembly drone before he was rescued, and it seems those people at the company took all his belongings he had on him, including his ID. Do you think there's... anyway you could write up something to let him by?"
Stepping forward, F gave her end of the story. "I can vouch for him, Ma'am. Wade and I we're among the teams helping in getting the worker drones out of the factory during the operation." The disassembly drone pulled out a pair of cards as she finished her explanation, one of them being her company-issued Disassembly Service Passcard, which resembled a normal civilian ID in appearance, save for the 'JCJenson (In Spaaace!) Logo on the top left and hazard markings around the rim of the card. As for the other card, it was a well worn, still legitimate ID card, showing F as how she appeared when she was a worker drone. At the side of her picture was a name with an initial. "FELICITY A LEE"
Taking the two cards in her hand, she looked them over and scanned them as Nathan tried to back Wade up as well. "So can I, Ma'am! I helped there too, when he was under the company's control. We all got him out of the factory so we could get him back in order." Pulling out his own ID, Nathan handed it out as the guard returned F's IDs to her.
The guard accepted Nathan's ID as she spoke over what to do with Wade. "Well, normally it takes clearance from higher ranked personnel here to allow someone inside without a legitimate form of identification. We can't just take someone's word on things like this, after all." Tina seemed to frown in disappointment as the guard explained her protocols, Wade looking down at the ground as he felt his worries were about to be proven correct. Going over Nathan's ID further, she gave an intrigued expression at the card before continuing. "Huh, interesting. Got two veteran folks here, I see?" She glanced to Nathan and F as she said that, taking into account their former military background as the former spoke up.
"Three, actually. My pal Kurtis is somewhere back there, I think. He should be heading down here later this evening." The guard glanced back at Nathan's ID as she took in the veteran drone's reply, sighing as she decided to make a slight amendment to the issue put before her and the four friends.
"Well, seeing you two here, I believe I can write something up. The Major won't be happy with me for this, but I think I can trust you with appropriate behavior." Taking a small sticky name-tag, the woman pulled out a pen before starting to write on it. Initially, she glanced to Wade, who stated his name again before she began to write his name on the tag. Once she was finished, the guard gave the tag to Wade, who slapped it onto his jacket before she spoke to him. "You should be fine to enter for the most part, just stick close to your friends and don't cause any trouble. Understood?"
Wade gave a stern salute to the security officer, who held back a chuckle at the honest, yet amusing effort the disassembly drone showed to her. Giving a simple nod and a flick of her hand, she permitted Wade and his friends entrance to the base, the four walking past the walkway barricades as they made their way past the gate.
Wade let out a heavy sigh of relief as he thanked his allies. "I owe you both so much for this, thanks!"
"Don't mention it, Wade." F said warmly as she and Nathan laughed at his joyful face.
"Yeah, just doing what any good friend should." Nathan said as Tina wrapped an arm around Wade, holding him tightly as the two walked together.
Looking to his girlfriend, Wade spoke to Tina about what to do next. "Well, since we're in, you wanna go fi-" He ceased his words as he remembered that there was someone else they needed to find amongst the base. "Oh, I almost forgot about her,"
"Jasmine!" Tina and Wade said aloud together as the former remembered her sister, Wade's words snapping her mind to Jasmine in an instant. "We should look for her, you think she might be here somewhere?"
"Probably. If they got Ron after they captured me, they have to 've picked her up too." Wade stated, Nathan raising a hand as he offered to help.
"I could go looking for her! You know what she looks like?" Readying a holo-projector, he tried to display an image of Jasmine from one of his many memories of her. The picture was, while pixelated and under a blue hue, incredibly well-detailed. And for Nathan, that was all he needed to see to note Jasmine's appearance in his memory. Nodding, he spoke again to his friends. "Got it! I'll see if she's around!" Then, turning to run down one of the paths leading to a nearby base facility, he stopped as he asked one more question. "Oh! One more thing, you got a smartcomm on ya, Wade?"
Readying one from his holo-projector hand, he nodded as he spoke into it. "Seems so, though I don't seem to have all my contacts added in."
Running back over, Nathan pulled out his own smartcomm before putting it up against Wade's hand one, allowing the two devices to exchange information. Upon the devices beeping, Wade and Nathan nodded to each other, the former ignoring a pop-up that stated, "New Contact Added" while the latter spoke once more. "Okay, I'll call you once I spot her!" With that, he began running down the path once more, intent on finding Tina's sister at the base, wherever she could be.
"Fowley! Her last name's Fowley!" Tina said aloud to the departing Nathan, hoping he heard her words before turning away from the miner drone and facing Wade and F again.
As Tina sighed in partial relief, Wade put his own arm around her before asking the question he tried to ask before. "So, uh, with that out of the way for now... You wanna go look for one of those ship tabs?"
Putting a hand to Wade's chest, Tina smiled as she replied. "Oh, certainly." Then, as the three began walking down a different path that Nathan hadn't taken, the pilot drone continued with a chuckle. "I hear they have a place here that sells model kits too!"
...
Jasmine sat in silent sorrow as she took another gulp of her glass of Proxi-Vodka, a tasty, but heavy alcoholic beverage produced at the colony of Proxima 2... and one of Jasmine's preferred drinks to have when she wasn't in a good mood. When she awoke after being stunned by the station guards, she found that she was just recovered by a group that called themselves the 'United Earth Coalition', and that her drone friend, Tina, was unfortunately taken by the JCJenson corporation to be turned into one of their horrid disassembly drones. While the people that saved her offered to help her find Tina, so far there had been no luck in doing so. No successful calls, no response from Wade nor Ron, nothing.
The whole situation widdled at her like scrapes to her form, slowly draining any bit of hope that she had in finding her sister. And once the mission at that factory was over, the ship began heading back to the Nellis Base to escort the recovered drones back to a safe area. Unfortunately for Jasmine, Tina's presence was not given confirmation. Alone, she walked off to one of the bars down at the base, specifically Drexler's Cantina, one of the more popular bars down at the military starport. Thankfully, though she didn't openly exhibit feelings of wanting to be alone in her wallowing, she was glad the place was nearly barren of patrons, with only a few at a couple of tables within the bar.
The stage at the back of the bar also had a few singer drones performing aloud, the lead singer girl reciting the words of a quiet, yet exciting song that, instrumentally, consisted of a strange mix of bass, techno, and a hint of opera. The song itself was one Jasmine had heard a good many times before in her life, known as, 'You Complete My World' by a decades old Earth band by the name of HeartStar. The song, as Jasmine and many others who'd heard it interpreted it, was about someone who described their world like a puzzle, and that the one whom the main singer cared for beyond all was the only thing that could keep their world from shattering into ruin before them.
An oddly fitting tune, given what had just happened on the JCJ Central earlier. For all Jasmine knew, Tina was either alive beyond her knowledge, hopefully searching for her wherever she could, or, the answer Jasmine feared... Dead.
Not wanting to even consider the thought, the human pilot took another swig of the colonial Vodka, relishing in its taste before forcing herself to swallow, almost gagging from the strength of the drink. Easing herself, she glanced out to one of the windows of the bar, taking the faint glimpse of night into her eyes. Then, looking to the clock at the wall ahead of her, she saw the time was about a little over an hour to 10 pm. Jasmine gave a sigh to herself, certain she would be alone for the rest of the night.
Unbeknownst to her, however, Jasmine had been spied upon a little while ago. Nathan, in his search for the woman Tina called Jasmine Fowley, had spotted a woman matching the physical appearance of the target. Knowing Jasmine wouldn't know who he was if he tried to talk to her himself, Nathan immediately went looking for Wade, easing his return to his team by calling the former worker drone and signaling him about his findings.
Deciding to check on the news, Jasmine slowly pulled out her smartcomm, resisting her urge to press the contacts button as she tapped the news app. Looking through it, she spotted a recent story that was posted just over an hour ago, titled, "JCJenson 'Recall' effort sabotaged by joint Government/Militia forces! The Truth Exposed!" Above the article was a video, a play button in front of it teasing Jasmine. Curious over this sudden development, she pressed the button, her attention in complete focus on the video as it began to play.
After the news station's logo appeared on-screen for a short few seconds, the current host for the story, Mrs. Tiffany Joy, appeared at her seat before beginning the story. "Good evening, this is Nevada-78, I'm your host, Tiffany Joy. Tonight, we start with a rapid development for the 'drone recall' incidents propagated by the business conglomerate JCJenson In Space. Throughout the afternoon up to now, several advanced factories under the ownership of the corporation have fallen under violent assault by various militarized forces, ranging from official United Nations operatives to private militia groups with varying goals." The small screen to Joy's left shifted to show the state of Nevada, zooming into it to show a portion of the Mojave desert as Joy continued her story.
"Among these facilities, one such factory based right here in southern Nevada has recently succumbed to the successful efforts of the USN Defense Force and a group by the name of the United Earth Coalition, an alliance consisting of humans and automatons working to create a unified world for both species." The screen shifted again to show the logo for the UEC, which appeared as one half of a human head outline and another of a drone's, along with two arms behind the heads belonging to both beings pictured. "With the attack having concluded just hours ago, we have reporters gathering at the New Nellis Staryards near Henderson City to bring you the aftermath of the conflict. We go to Mr. Jelico, on the scene in five."
The camera shifted after the countdown of five to show Mr. Jelico in front of the camera, the cameraman filming a large tent housing several worker drones being tended to by the base soldiers. "Alright, Jelico here, we're on station at New Nellis. What you're all seeing here are some of the recovered worker drones, many of them were pretty spooked by the events that unfolded in that factory earlier." As the camera panned over the lot of drones, some of them looked to the camera, curious at the news crew filming them as Jelico continued. "A few of them are real glad to be here, Joy. Seems like they feel safe here, as far as I can tell."
As the camera moved to show Jelico again, a plane could be seen taking off as he spoke. "Yeah, these people did them quite a service. The staff here are working to find their original owners and families, it'll probably be a little bit before they can get them all home." The camera switched once again to another view of the base, the lights of various buildings illuminating the night as the news story continued.
At the entrance, Nathan pushed open the door to the bar, the chime failing to catch anyone's attention as he, Wade, F and Tina stepped inside. Carefully pointing at Jasmine, he whispered to Tina, "That's her, from the looks of it. She's been here for a good minute!"
Taking another drink of the Proxi-Vodka, Jasmine listened further to the story. "The authorities didn't just recover a majority of the worker drones taken into the factory, however. A recent update provided by Mrs. Yuka, shows her interviewing a disassembly drone who claims to be among the unfortunate drones the assault force failed to save before their conversion."
"Jasmine!" Tina called out, the voice instantly grabbing the woman's attention as she paused the news story. Swiftly turning her head, her heart began pounding with immense excitement as she saw her drone sister, who grinned upon seeing her face.
"Tina!" Jasmine said aloud, somewhat weakly from her previous wallowing as she tried to run over to her sister, landing on her knees as the two embraced in a flush of emotions. Wade and his friends stood behind the two girls as they hugged each other, clinging onto one another as tightly as they could give. Jasmine seemed to erupt with a pained cough as she allowed some of her sorrow out of her heart, Tina carressing her back in a comforting manner as she held back her own tears. The sisters held the hug for a long moment, not daring to let go of one another for fear of losing each other again. Eventually, however, they did, the two sisters taking heavy breaths as Jasmine spoke up while wiping her face. "I thought I'd lost you."
"Can't say I didn't feel the same way, love." Tina replied as she broke out in light laughter, glancing to Wade before continuing. "But, fortunately, those Coalition boys helped out quite a bit. Though, not as much as my knight in his new armor."
Standing herself up, Jasmine took Tina's helping hand as she looked to the one her sister spoke of. A grateful smile formed on Jasmine's face as she saw Wade, standing in front of her and Tina as he returned the expression. Looking upon her family friend, Jasmine noticed something... different about Wade. He was taller now, his arms were shaped like white cones rather than the silver bendy tubes he and Tina normally had. As for his face, his pure green eyes were replaced with a set of greenish-yellow ones, and above his forehead was a band holding five yellow bulbs that she didn't know the function of.
While the pieces started to click together in her head, Jasmine took Wade's held out hand as she spoke to him. "Wade, I'm so glad to see you! You look different, too. Did something... happen to you?" She already guessed it by this point, but feigned confusion as she opted to hear Wade's take on the matter.
"Yeah, I hope you don't mind your sister dating a vampire from now on." Tina chortled in amusement at Wade's comment at himself, Jasmine raising an eyebrow in confusion at the former worker drone as he returned his expression to a more sincere smile. "The company got me too, and unlike the workers we got out... they managed to turn me into a disassembly drone. From now on, I'm gonna need to take in more oil than I usually did before I was turned. My cooling system's not as good as it should be, from what I've heard." Pulling out his two full canteens, Wade finished his partial explanation. "Don't worry, though. I've got some to keep me down."
Jasmine took in the news with immense surprise, noticing the hazard stripes at the rims of Wade's arms as she replied to her friend. "Oh... Well, if Tina's fine with it, then I see no problem with that, Wade." Admittedly, she was a bit unnerved by the change, concerned for both him and Tina's safety due to this supposed oil coolant issue. Trying to sound as nice as she could on the matter, Jasmine hesitantly asked Wade, "Though... I am a bit concerned with that bad cooling problem you mention. You... don't think you would-"
"Hurt Tina?!" Wade assumed, understanding Jasmine's concern as he gave a horrified glance to the two sisters. Standing with his fists to his hips, he gave his answer to Jasmine's presumed question. "Don't even say such a thing, Jasmine. I'd rather overheat than dare strike her."
Admittedly amused as well as concerned for Wade's selflessness, Tina chuckled at him before speaking up on the matter. "Now now, Wade. It won't be so bad. We'll manage."
Jasmine nodded as she agreed with her sister's optimistic view on the problem. "Indeed we will, we always do." Then, taking notice of the other two drones in the room, Jasmine smiled at them before speaking again. "Ah, I see you brought some friends too."
Wade and Tina glanced over to Nathan and F upon Jasmine's statement, the two friends smiling pleasantly as Wade spoke up. "Oh, yeah. These are some of my work buddies from Ceres, Jasmine. This is Nathan, I first met him when Ron and I came to the mines, showed us around a bit too." Putting a hand on F's shoulder, Wade introduced her too. "And this is Serial Designation F, or, just F. She was one of the guards keeping watch on the place while we worked."
F seemed to blush out of embarrassment as she remembered her and Wade's first meeting. "I... did come off a little rough on them when they first came in, though. Stopped Nathan's touring run too. Just following colony protocol."
Nathan patted F's back as he tried to ease F's guilt. "Oh, it's nothing F. We had to start work in a few minutes anyway. Besides, it's a bit more fun exploring the place yourself without a guide." He winked at the others as he finished his praise. "Trust me, it really is."
Wade, Tina and Jasmine all chuckled at their friend's amusing words, F joining in as she replied to Nathan's encouragement. "Alright, alright."
Walking up to the two, Tina put her hand onto Nathan's as she gave her own praises. "And they may not look like it, dear, but Nathan and F were both formerly in the military, from what Wade's told me."
Jasmine gave a proud smirk at the two as she responded to her sister's claim. "Well, that's quite something. Did she tell you we used to fly for them some years back?"
"Oh, she did, Mrs. Fowley." Nathan replied as he chuckled lightly, F giving a smile of her own as she added her own part to the story.
"Yeah, and given what's happening now, maybe they might call you back for service again. Wade told me you two were excellent pilots."
It was now Jasmine's turn to blush as she chuckled from the compliment, knowing Wade's high praise for her and her sister's flying as she replied. "Well, I can't say that's wrong, Tina saved the day during the flight back here. We ran into an asteroid cluster while in the middle of a jump."
Wade patted Tina on her back as he quietly cheered his love on. "That's what I'm talking about, she's a wonder among the stars, I'm telling you!"
The group fell into an excited fit of laughter at the conversation, a few of the bar patrons taking notice of the bunch as they eventually ceased their joyful moment.
As everyone calmed down, Jasmine spoke up, intending to bring the discussion to another place. "Well, with all that said, it feels great to see you all here. It was such a terrible day after all those company folk showed up." Then, as she scanned the group of friends around her, she noticed someone else missing from this puzzle. "Hey, uh... is Ron here? Did he head off somewhere?"
The mood was quickly put down to a mournful aura as Wade and Tina glanced to the floor in sadness, Nathan and F giving uncomfortable postures as they awaited for someone to speak up on the matter.
Eventually, Wade was the one to open his mouth, breathing steadily as he tried to speak to Jasmine. "Um, Jasmine? Things, uh... really took a nose dive after we got captured. You think we could find a place to sit? It's a lot to talk about."
Looking to the four drones with concern, Jasmine eased her returning fear as she nodded to Wade in agreement. "...Sure, there's plenty of space at the table here." Pointing her arm to the table, which was surrounded by a U-shaped seating bench, Wade and his friends began to move to the table as Tina spoke up.
"I can get us some drinks for the talk, you all want anything?"
"Just some oil, thanks. "Wade answered as F and Nathan gave their own nods to Tina, the drone girl walking over to the bartender near the stage as she went to purchase some beverages.
Sitting down, Jasmine picked up her smartcomm from the table, glancing to it as she spoke up on her half-finished drink. "Heh, and to think I was drowning myself in this drag of a drink before. Probably have to find a different glass."
"Proxi-Vodka? Haven't seen you touch that since we lost Aunt Susan." Wade said solemnly as he examined Jasmine's drink, sighing as he reluctantly continued. "Well, maybe it can go for a few more sips."
Looking to the vodka, Jasmine nodded as she put her smartcomm in her pocket. "I figured, I didn't think this was gonna sound good."
"I wish it did." Wade replied as Tina walked back to the table, a plate of three oil glasses resting on her careful hand as she set it down.
After delivering the drinks, Tina took a seat next to Wade, holding his hand as Jasmine spoke up. "So, where do we start this terrible story?"
Wade gulped a bit as he began to recount the events that transpired today. "Well, it all started when Ron and I came back from the mining colony."
2024.05.14 11:02 lovelyyandereaddict Yandere Neighbor Wants to be Let In ASMR Roleplay [A4A] [M4A][F4A] [Neighbor Speaker] [Chatty Speaker] [That’s Not My Neighbor Inspired] [Door Person Listener] [Jealous Speaker]
Description (for Listener): You’re the dutiful guardian of the door for your complex. In a world overrun by doppelgangers whose most recent gimmick is sneaking into the guarded apartments. You must keep the sanctity of the system if only to protect your beloved neighbors. To do your job the best you often have to entertain your more chatty neighbors.
Alternate Description (for Speaker): You’ve returned from a long day of work, wanting nothing more than to convince your favorite neighbor—the door person—your muse! Too bad their simply stuck on this one neighbor; you’ll have to think about how to get rid of him as soon as possible.
Ah, it’s you again! Isn’t it just crazy that every time it’s your shift we end up bumping into each other? Crazy, right?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oh! Right! Here are my papers, and my ID, and if you’d like I wouldn’t mind throwing in the latest issue of ‘Know Your Neighbor!’
(Neighbor Speaker)
Turns out my hunch was right! They were planning to bump me up and now I’ve got my column on the second page on the right.
(Neighbor Speaker)
See?
(Neighbor Speaker)
In a world like the one we live in, us neighbors need to keep close tabs on each other. Don’t you agree?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Wow, I didn’t think you’d be so opinionated about it but I would be lying if I hadn’t heard that criticism before. While many may say writing about this always-kept-anonymous–character of the perfect neighbor might give away too much to any doppelgangers smart enough to read. I see it as a way to alert others about seeing the good and noticing the best parts of your neighbors.
(Neighbor Speaker)
So any guesses as to who you think I might be talking about?
(Neighbor Speaker)
It’s…not the milkman.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Not Elenois. Knowing her she’d sooner skin me than bother with her reputation.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Any other guesses?
(Neighbor Speaker)
I am positive I am not talking about the milkman. You really like bringing him up, don’t you?
(Neighbor Speaker)
I mean I’m sure some people will consider the bags under his eyes, his monotone voice, and his grumpy personality kind of cute.
(Neighbor Speaker)
What? I’m just saying we’ve had quite a few doppelgangers almost make it in here because they imitate him. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the one in here now was one.
Selling his new creation scarlet milk and expecting no one to be suspicious. That guy’s a weirdo and I just don’t know what you see in him.
(Neighbor Speaker)
I’m clearly so much better.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oh? Everything checks out? Great as expected of my favorite door person! Always doing your best to protect us from those sneaky doppelgangers.
[Metal Door Opening]
[Stepping Through Door]
[Metal Door Closing]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Uh hey, how soon is your shift over?
(Neighbor Speaker)
I was wondering if you’d like to maybe come to my apartment. I have some snacks and I’ve got a radio! You and I can cuddle up on the couch have a drink or two and listen to the radio show.
(Neighbor Speaker)
But if you don’t want to do that I definitely have some other cool things we can do! Have ourselves a friendly–maybe romantic sleepover.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Your shift ends when the last person in the building comes? That’s backward, people spend the whole day doing spontaneous things. Heck, even I know reporting for leave I won’t just be going to work I’ll have a friendly meal at the cafe while I write plans for my column.
(Neighbor Speaker)
If you can believe it, my muse often doesn’t leave the building/ While it’s nice to write near them all I can do is watch and spend time with you er–them when I’m at home. A lovely inconvenience, eh? The neighbor I want to protect distracts me from pretty much everything.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Anyway, who are we waiting on for you to finish?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Ah, speak of the devil.
(Neighbor Speaker)
So you really can’t end your day without this guy coming through.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Hypothetically if you were to end your shift early what would happen to him?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Locked out of the complex for the night? At the defense of doppelgangers until morning? That sorry sleepy sack of bones?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Sounds perfect!
(Neighbor Speaker)
I mean for those nasty doppelgangers! That’s probably what they’d think if you hypothetically ended your shift early.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Uhm if you’d like I can keep you company! I still have a drink or two saved from the office! The bottle’s barely finished and I most certainly could use your help finishing it!
It’s okay you’re practically done besides between the two of us we can spot any doppelgangers, right?
(Neighbor Speaker)
So? Are you game?
(Neighbor Speaker)
So hesitant…I thought your job was to protect your neighbors. Well, currently your poor neighbor is suffering without a drink. So my favorite door guardian, my muse–will you help me?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Yes! I have the glasses!
[Drinks Clinking]
[Sounds of Drink Pouring]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Bottoms up!
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oooh, that was a good chug! Think you could stomach another?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Wow, you’re such a trooper but I bet you can’t beat my record. I’ve had over five full glasses in one go.
[Bottle Being Snatched]
[Bottle Quickly Being Chugged]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Whoa that’s a lot are you going to be able to stand?
[Body falling from Chair]
(Neighbor Speaker)
I’m not complaining! You are my muse after all! My favorite neighbor is especially cute when drinking far too much!
(Neighbor Speaker)
Alright, up you go!
(Neighbor Speaker)
Hey, how about we head to your apartment instead? It’s so hard trying to get a copy of your key it’d just be easier if you let me inside. A good neighbor should always have the means to check on you–especially when you spend all day protecting all of us.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Do you think you can start heading that way, now? That’s my muse!
[Slow Labored Footsteps Fading]
(Neighbor Speaker)
In the meantime, I’ll just start wrapping up your workstation.
[Papers Shuffling]
[Hurried Footsteps]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oh, the… milkman. Good to see you.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Yeah, I’m just filling in for them, they went to the bathroom.
(Neighbor Speaker)
I’ll just check everything and let you in.
(Neighbor Speaker)
The entry request, and the ID everything checks out….
(Neighbor Speaker)
Except…oh no…your appearance.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Yes, your perfectly chiseled face and tired eyes that my muse just can’t seem to get enough of.
(Neighbor Speaker)
That's a problem. Plus you don’t have all the proper documents.
[Shredder Starts]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oops turns out you’re claiming to be a neighbor of mine who’s still out and about. That’s a shame.
[Banging against Glass]
(Neighbor Speaker)
And so violent, it’s best I call the D.D.D.
[Button Pressed]
[Alarm goes Off]
[Phone Clicking]
[Phone Ringing]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Yes, we have a doppelganger, here that needs removing. Thank you!
(Neighbor Speaker)
Now my favorite Neighbor can end their day and spend all their time with me.
(Neighbor Speaker)
No more of that milk…man getting in my way.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oh my muse, I’m coming be careful going up those stairs! I’m coming sweetie!
submitted by lovelyyandereaddict to ASMRScriptHaven [link] [comments]
Alternate Description (for Speaker): You’ve returned from a long day of work, wanting nothing more than to convince your favorite neighbor—the door person—your muse! Too bad their simply stuck on this one neighbor; you’ll have to think about how to get rid of him as soon as possible.
A/N: It’s been a while but I’m happy to get writing again!(Neighbor Speaker)
This is up for monetization just credit me, please! If you put this behind a paywall just privately message me!
I'm alright with improvising for this script!
All [Sounds] are suggestions!
Also if anyone is interested, here’s my Masterlist!
Anyway Enjoy,
🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤🖤
<>>><><><><><><><<><<><><><><><><><<><><><><><><<><><><>
Ah, it’s you again! Isn’t it just crazy that every time it’s your shift we end up bumping into each other? Crazy, right?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oh! Right! Here are my papers, and my ID, and if you’d like I wouldn’t mind throwing in the latest issue of ‘Know Your Neighbor!’
(Neighbor Speaker)
Turns out my hunch was right! They were planning to bump me up and now I’ve got my column on the second page on the right.
(Neighbor Speaker)
See?
(Neighbor Speaker)
In a world like the one we live in, us neighbors need to keep close tabs on each other. Don’t you agree?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Wow, I didn’t think you’d be so opinionated about it but I would be lying if I hadn’t heard that criticism before. While many may say writing about this always-kept-anonymous–character of the perfect neighbor might give away too much to any doppelgangers smart enough to read. I see it as a way to alert others about seeing the good and noticing the best parts of your neighbors.
(Neighbor Speaker)
So any guesses as to who you think I might be talking about?
(Neighbor Speaker)
It’s…not the milkman.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Not Elenois. Knowing her she’d sooner skin me than bother with her reputation.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Any other guesses?
(Neighbor Speaker)
I am positive I am not talking about the milkman. You really like bringing him up, don’t you?
(Neighbor Speaker)
I mean I’m sure some people will consider the bags under his eyes, his monotone voice, and his grumpy personality kind of cute.
(Neighbor Speaker)
What? I’m just saying we’ve had quite a few doppelgangers almost make it in here because they imitate him. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the one in here now was one.
Selling his new creation scarlet milk and expecting no one to be suspicious. That guy’s a weirdo and I just don’t know what you see in him.
(Neighbor Speaker)
I’m clearly so much better.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oh? Everything checks out? Great as expected of my favorite door person! Always doing your best to protect us from those sneaky doppelgangers.
[Metal Door Opening]
[Stepping Through Door]
[Metal Door Closing]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Uh hey, how soon is your shift over?
(Neighbor Speaker)
I was wondering if you’d like to maybe come to my apartment. I have some snacks and I’ve got a radio! You and I can cuddle up on the couch have a drink or two and listen to the radio show.
(Neighbor Speaker)
But if you don’t want to do that I definitely have some other cool things we can do! Have ourselves a friendly–maybe romantic sleepover.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Your shift ends when the last person in the building comes? That’s backward, people spend the whole day doing spontaneous things. Heck, even I know reporting for leave I won’t just be going to work I’ll have a friendly meal at the cafe while I write plans for my column.
(Neighbor Speaker)
If you can believe it, my muse often doesn’t leave the building/ While it’s nice to write near them all I can do is watch and spend time with you er–them when I’m at home. A lovely inconvenience, eh? The neighbor I want to protect distracts me from pretty much everything.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Anyway, who are we waiting on for you to finish?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Ah, speak of the devil.
(Neighbor Speaker)
So you really can’t end your day without this guy coming through.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Hypothetically if you were to end your shift early what would happen to him?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Locked out of the complex for the night? At the defense of doppelgangers until morning? That sorry sleepy sack of bones?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Sounds perfect!
(Neighbor Speaker)
I mean for those nasty doppelgangers! That’s probably what they’d think if you hypothetically ended your shift early.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Uhm if you’d like I can keep you company! I still have a drink or two saved from the office! The bottle’s barely finished and I most certainly could use your help finishing it!
It’s okay you’re practically done besides between the two of us we can spot any doppelgangers, right?
(Neighbor Speaker)
So? Are you game?
(Neighbor Speaker)
So hesitant…I thought your job was to protect your neighbors. Well, currently your poor neighbor is suffering without a drink. So my favorite door guardian, my muse–will you help me?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Yes! I have the glasses!
[Drinks Clinking]
[Sounds of Drink Pouring]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Bottoms up!
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oooh, that was a good chug! Think you could stomach another?
(Neighbor Speaker)
Wow, you’re such a trooper but I bet you can’t beat my record. I’ve had over five full glasses in one go.
[Bottle Being Snatched]
[Bottle Quickly Being Chugged]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Whoa that’s a lot are you going to be able to stand?
[Body falling from Chair]
(Neighbor Speaker)
I’m not complaining! You are my muse after all! My favorite neighbor is especially cute when drinking far too much!
(Neighbor Speaker)
Alright, up you go!
(Neighbor Speaker)
Hey, how about we head to your apartment instead? It’s so hard trying to get a copy of your key it’d just be easier if you let me inside. A good neighbor should always have the means to check on you–especially when you spend all day protecting all of us.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Do you think you can start heading that way, now? That’s my muse!
[Slow Labored Footsteps Fading]
(Neighbor Speaker)
In the meantime, I’ll just start wrapping up your workstation.
[Papers Shuffling]
[Hurried Footsteps]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oh, the… milkman. Good to see you.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Yeah, I’m just filling in for them, they went to the bathroom.
(Neighbor Speaker)
I’ll just check everything and let you in.
(Neighbor Speaker)
The entry request, and the ID everything checks out….
(Neighbor Speaker)
Except…oh no…your appearance.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Yes, your perfectly chiseled face and tired eyes that my muse just can’t seem to get enough of.
(Neighbor Speaker)
That's a problem. Plus you don’t have all the proper documents.
[Shredder Starts]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oops turns out you’re claiming to be a neighbor of mine who’s still out and about. That’s a shame.
[Banging against Glass]
(Neighbor Speaker)
And so violent, it’s best I call the D.D.D.
[Button Pressed]
[Alarm goes Off]
[Phone Clicking]
[Phone Ringing]
(Neighbor Speaker)
Yes, we have a doppelganger, here that needs removing. Thank you!
(Neighbor Speaker)
Now my favorite Neighbor can end their day and spend all their time with me.
(Neighbor Speaker)
No more of that milk…man getting in my way.
(Neighbor Speaker)
Oh my muse, I’m coming be careful going up those stairs! I’m coming sweetie!
2024.05.14 10:36 TheCradledDM Athos 36: The Other Side
be me; ex LizarDM
be also me; Adonis Valintellis (Tiefling Paladin), Thalia Milakos (Human Ranger) and Zaahir Kehmet (Earth Genasi Wizard)
the soldier stifled a yawn as he patrolled the sandy beaches of Kalikos
clouds hid the island from the moon’s spectral glow, casting the land into darkness and turning the often silver seas black as coal
his shift had been a long one and just as boring as expected
where once his mind had been sharp and alert, it now lingered on thoughts of a cold drink and a warm bed
his eyes scanned the shore superficially, passing over the same stones and grassy knolls he’d seen a hundred times before
on any other night, he may have noticed the discrepancies in the shoreline
the new rock that appeared almost boat-like on second glance
but alas, his mind was a thousand miles away, and the javelin hit him without warning
the soldier collapsed to his knees, gasping for air like a fish on land
his armour had spared him from the worst of the damage, but the javelin had done its job
stunned and winded, he was rendered defenceless against the four figures that emerged from the darkness
a thought crossed his mind to sound the alarm; but his limbs refused to move and his lungs pleaded for breath
one member of the pack split from the rest. A stout dwarf with a full beard and a grim expression
they approached the helpless man, drawing a sharply curved short sword from their belt
the soldier tried to move
tried to yell
but the dwarf closed the distance between them and cut his throat, putting a violent end to his struggles
wiping the blood clean from his weapon, Oryk hauled the body behind cover before jogging to catch up with his companions
the Order of the Twins moved like shadows in the night. Their passage muffled by the spells woven about their feet
that said, their infiltration still proved easier than expected
skirting the edges of the island, the party avoided common paths and watchful eyes; slipping between gaps in the meagre defences they encountered
their route took them just below the peak of the island; where a lavish home stared out across the ocean
in the distance, tiny twinkling lights just barely outlined the Athosi mainland
the house itself was lit up like a beacon in the night, and roaming globules of fire identified the few guards on rotation. Six or seven at most
less than a third of what they had anticipated
counting their blessings, the small band of adventurers navigated the narrow pathways around the house and approached the island’s southern side, where a lonely dirt road wound its way towards a grove of trees
they moved swiftly and silently through the long grass that grew on either side, but they needn’t have bothered
the road was unguarded, and the entrance to the grove lay bare
“this is too easy,” Cyrene whispered; fidgeting nervously with an iron band around her wrist. “Where are the rest of the guards?”
she, like the rest of her companions, had a dishevelled look to her appearance
a thinness to her features that implied more than a couple missed meals
Oryk shot her a stern look, and the half orc immediately shut her mouth
turning his gaze to the two half elves to his rear, he was answered with obedient silence
Maia had always been thin, but now she was practically gaunt
her eyes carried a weight, and an ugly scar split her lip on the left side
Iris, her sister, had once identified herself with long curly hair
now, it was cut short, and crudely so. As if done with an altogether uncaring hand
both twins wore the same iron band as Cyrene around their left wrist
a thin piece of metal that coiled around their limb like a snake
with a commanding wave of his hand, Oryk led the party through the grove’s northern entrance and into the trees beyond
moving like ghosts between the thin trunks and shallow underbrush, the group made good progress before they heard the sudden snap of a twig in the darkness
Oryk raised a fist and the advance came to an abrupt stop, scanning their surroundings with tense expressions
a series of soft whispers drifted between the trees, accompanied by the rustling of leaves and groaning of branches
the dwarven fighter drew his sica and his companions complied, unsheathing their weapons in response
they began to spot lithe, feminine figures peering out at them from behind the trees. Staring at the strangers with bright, emerald eyes
the women had skin like mottled bark, and hair that plumed about them like foliage
“dryads,” Cyrene declared, lowering her rhomphaia with the faintest hint of relief
Iris and Maia exchanged a look before lowering their own weapons, albeit keeping them close at hand
Oryk, however, raised his short sword threateningly, and pointed it at the nearest nature spirit
“get back in your trees and stay there. Interfere, and we will not hesitate to kill you”
the dryad in question retreated, but the others stood their ground as a frantic whispering filled the trees around them
something dangerous glimmered in Oryk’s eyes, and his fingers tightened around the hilt of his sica
“NOW!” he suddenly bellowed, his voice deep and commanding
the drayds scattered into the trees, leaving a myriad of foul curses and even fouler odours in their wake
Oryk gave a satisfied grunt and turned to leave, only to nearly walk into the dryad that now stood in his way
a spirit with speckled, ashy skin and a stern, stubborn expression
Oryk approached them with his weapon raised
“get out of my way,” he growled. “I won’t ask a third time”
the dryad stared down at him like a disapproving adult would a petulant child, and when it spoke, it did so with a voice like wind through a canopy
“if you were wise, you would return to your masters. You will not find what you seek here”
its eyes lifted to the party, as if directing its words to them
with a snarl, Oryk swiped at the dryad, only to be met by a cloud of pollen and stinging nettles
cursing aloud between bouts of frantic coughing, the dwarf fled the swarm and started rubbing his eyes, which had already begun streaming with tears
muttering under her breath, Cyrene approached his side and laid a hand on his shoulder
“come now, let me see”
lowering his hands to his side, Oryk turned to face her with a grimace, his eyes puffy and red
“Archons above, Oryk,” Cyrene cursed. “You should know better than to taunt a dryad”
as the words left her mouth, the band on her wrist suddenly tightened and the half orc gave a small yelp of pain
glaring at her through bloodshot eyes, Oryk gave the cleric a venomous look
“and you should know better than to speak out of line”
Cyrene’s hands fumbled at the metal around her wrist, refusing to meet the dwarf’s cruel gaze
the cuff continued to coil and squeeze; writhing like a living being as Cyrene frantically whispered a foreign chant beneath her breath
the words seemed to appease the magic item, and it loosened its grip in response
witnessing this cruel display of discipline, the twins began unconsciously massaging the band around their own wrists; as if reminiscing on a similar experience
shaking the pain from her arm, Cyrene set to work curing Oryk’s ailment, uttering a slew of healing spells
with his eyesight restored, Oryk sheathed his weapon and pushed past Cyrene, wandering into the trees
with little other choice other than to follow, the group set off after him
the party walked for some time before a sound other than buzzing insects and murmured curses reached their ears
a low, rumbling that echoed through the trees. Like a dull droning that came in ebbs and flows
once more the group came to a stop, and before Oryk could even turn to look towards the twins, they had already begun to move
creeping forward with the lightest of footsteps, Maia and Iris stealthily approached the sound, deftly avoiding any stray branches or betraying stones
the droning grew louder and louder, until the pair had stopped just shy of its source
peering around a trunk with sharp blue eyes, Maia scanned what lay ahead
the trees parted around an ancient oak, its roots deep and its branches tall
a hollow sat about half way up the trunk. A small opening just wide enough to put a hand or two inside
but the tree was not so interesting as what lay beneath
coiled around the trunk was a creature with a long, serpentine body
its scales, green and flecked with brown, were hard and interlocked like shields in a phalanx
its head, immense and filled with razor sharp teeth, lay curled just below the hollow of the tree
the low rumbling emanated from the monster’s chest, as it uttered a long, prolonged snore
Maia’s jaw tightened and her eyes flitted over to her sister
Iris’ face had gone pale, and her hand had instinctively dropped to grab at the empty sheath on her belt
a prize taken by their employer
the twins locked eyes, and shared a moment of profound fear
wetting her suddenly very dry lips, Maia gestured back towards the trees and Iris nodded in silent agreement
the two stealthily retreated, keeping their footsteps light all the way back to their comrades
Oryk almost jumped when the twins materialised beside him, emerging from the darkness without warning
“well?” he hissed, his voice rising above the droning snores. “What did you find?”
Iris frantically gestured for the dwarf to quiet down, as Maia shot a terrified glance back in the direction of the oak tree
only when they heard the low droning of the monster’s snores did the pair relax enough to answer
“dragon”
the word held in the air like a curse
Cyrene’s eyes widened, and had it not been for the band on her wrist, she most certainly would have uttered a prayer
even Oryk’s permanently affixed scowl faded as the blood drained from his face
when he finally spoke, he did so with no semblance of his usual condescension
“...how big?”
“8 meters,” Iris answered. “No more than 12”
Oryk nodded, his brow knitting together as he dropped into a crouch
“a juvenile,” he thought aloud. “Hasn’t reached full adulthood. Scorch marks?”
“none that we could see”
“good. Then either it’s too young to breathe fire, or it spits poison”
his eyes narrowed to points as he mulled things over in his head
the group kept quiet, forced to listen to the distant, droning snores as their leader considered their options
after a long stretch of time, Oryk took a sharp inhale and straightened his posture
“it’s asleep?”
his eyes shifted to Maia, and the half elf tensed
“we think so but…”
“we don’t know for certain,” Iris quickly interrupted. “We’ve never encountered a dragon before. We should call off the mission and come back more prepared”
a deadly silence fell over the group as the dwarf went still
“call off the mission?” he repeated
his voice was calm, but the words held a distinct edge to them
like the blade of a meticulously sharpened knife
“and since when did you make the calls in this party?”
Maia shot her sister a look, and Iris lowered her eyes
“never,” she answered
“that’s right. Never,” Oryk reiterated, holding the half elf in his steely gaze. “We do things my way, as we always have”
Iris’ clamped her mouth shut and the dwarvish fighter turned to look at his other companions
“unless you have all forgotten what awaits us if we fail? What will happen if we come back empty handed?”
he was met with silence and a slow shake of Cyrene’s head
“failure isn’t an option,” he continued. “If the drakon is asleep, we need to act now”
his gaze shifted to Maia
“so can you do what I need you to?”
the half elf swallowed and tried to slow her racing heartbeat
“I think so,” she meekly answered
“good. The rest of us will wait in position. We’ll flank the tree from three sides and-”
“-I’ll do it,” Iris suddenly interjected
Oryk’s teeth flashed in a grimace before he turned to face her
“I’ll retrieve the objective,” Iris clarified, meeting the dwarf’s gaze
“Maia is quieter,” Oryk bluntly retorted. “She stands a better chance of getting to the tree than you do”
“but with my magic-”
“-your magic that we need for the escape,” he interrupted. “We have a plan, stick to it”
he turned back to the front and began drawing out a rough plan in the dirt with his sica
“-while Maia sneaks in, we hold here to provide support. Once we have what we came for, we leave back through the northern exit”
Iris’ eye twitched, and Maia reached out to drop a hand on her sister’s arm
“Iris-” she quietly started
but her warning went unheeded, and Iris spoke up again
“what’s the point of saving my magic if we don’t get what we came for?” she argued
Oryk spun with a stormy expression, pointing his blade to her chest
“because I said so!” he snapped. “And you will do what you’re told!”
he may have stood half a head shorter than Iris, but in that moment, Oryk felt like a giant, and in the silence of the trees, his voice sounded like a clap of thunder
Iris’ face paled and Oryk realised what he had done
instinctively, the party held their breath; anticipating a monstrous roar, or the crash of falling trees
but after a few tense seconds, all they heard was the rhythmic rumbling of distant snores
the group letting out a collective sigh of relief that cut through the tension like a knife
tension that returned the moment Oryk opened his mouth
“do you want to be sent across the Chronaean?” he hissed. “Do you want to leave your sister alone?”
Iris’ eyes shifted to Cyrene, searching for some glimmer of support
instead, the half orc looked away, leaving the half elf to face their leader alone
“of course I don’t,” Iris mumbled
“exactly,” Oryk spat. “Stay in line, do what you’re told, and keep your mouth shut”
he turned to Maia with an expression that encouraged absolute obedience
“get the objective, and get out. Nod if you understand”
Maia gave a slight jerk of her head
“good. Now get moving”
the dwarf stormed off into the trees, and Cyrene quickly shot up to follow him
Maia and Iris exchanged a look of resignation before joining their trusted comrades
Maia stood in position by the edge of the clearing, mentally projecting her path to and from the hollowFirst Post: https://www.reddit.com/CradledDnDStories/comments/x8zwpv/athos_1_a_new_world_of_opportunity/
it was a simple job, really
dart across the open ground
jump up to the low branch on the left side
climb over to the main trunk
grab the objective
and do it all again
simple
if it weren’t for the dragon in the way
Maia's heart began to pound in her chest until she felt a hand fall gently across her arm
she turned, meeting Iris' concerned gaze
“you don’t have to do this,” her sister whispered; practically breathing the words into Maia’s ear
“yes I do,” Maia answered, keeping her voice just as quiet. “You heard Oryk. We can’t go back empty handed”
“f*ck Oryk,” Iris cursed. “We’re only here because of him”
in spite of herself, a grim smile lifted the corner of Maia’s lips
it was a rare thing to hear Iris curse
“we could run, you know. Make a break for the mainland”
Maia’s smile dropped in an instant
“Iris, no”
“why not?” Iris replied earnestly. “We can make it. I know we can”
“they’ll catch us. And even if they don’t, what then? We’ve got nowhere to hide. No friends to help us. We’d be on our own”
“we’ve been alone before. We survived, didn’t we?”
Iris’ words were hopeful, but they couldn’t hide the desperation beneath
when Maia didn’t seem convinced, Iris took her sister’s face into her hands
“please don’t do this. I can’t lose you”
Maia’s eyes softened, and she placed her hands atop Iris’
“that’s why I have to do this”
she took a deep breath and tried to put on a half convincing smile
“you don’t have to worry about me. I’ve got this. I promise”
Iris’ thumb traced the scar across her sister’s lip
“I’m older. It’s my job to worry about you”
a frown fell across Maia’s face
“older by 10 minutes”
“and I’ll never let you forget it”
Iris pulled her sister into a tight hug
“don’t you dare get yourself caught”
“when have I ever?”
the two reluctantly parted, and Iris held her sister at an arm’s length
“remember. Once you have it-”
“-run like the Hounds of Chaon are after me”
a smile touched Iris’ lips, and the shadows rose up to swallow her
when they parted, the monk was gone
inhaling a slow, shaky breath, Maia composed herself, and refocused on the tree
30ft to the centre
branch on the left side
over the dragon
down to the hollow
reverse and get out
she exhaled slowly, letting the shake fade from her breath
she had this
Maia broke from the tree line, moving in a swift but stealthy manner
every step carefully laid. Every movement intentional
the dragon’s snores rumbled like thunder, growing louder with each step
before she knew it, she was beneath the low branch
taking a quick stutter step to gain momentum, she threw herself upwards, catching the branch with both hands
thankfully, the branch held firm, and Maia swung her legs up and around it
shimmying along inch by inch, she drew closer to the trunk itself, inadvertently holding her breath as she passed over the sleeping body of the dragon
its breath reeked up close. Like spoiled fruit and vinegar
it took all her strength not to gag
before she knew it, she was at the trunk of the tree and at the next step of her plan
hoisting herself up to a crouched position, she flattened her body against the side of the trunk and began sliding her foot along its length
eventually, she found a suitable foothold and began clambering across to a more central position
the hollow was just beneath her now
and beneath that, the massive head of the dragon
this close, she realised just how easily such a creature could snap her up
with her small frame, she’d be gone in one or two bites
pushing such morbid thoughts out of her mind, she leaned down until her head and arm were low enough to reach inside the hollow
her lungs were beginning to burn from holding her breath for so long, but she dared not exhale
she wasn't sure how good a dragon's senses were, but she wasn't keen to find out either
reaching her arm into the hollow, her fingers touched loose leaves and knotted wood
she pushed a little deeper, searching for any sign of her prize
something cold
something metal
but instead, she felt the hard back of the hollow
frowning, she pressed again, but still felt only the rear of the hollow
had she somehow missed it?
her fingers scrambled around, but continued to feel only wood and leaves
her lungs were really burning now, and she could feel her face flushing with colour from being upside down
regardless, she removed her arm and leaned her head down further, trying to peer inside
in the black gloom of a moonless night, a human wouldn’t have been able to see a thing
but even with her enhanced elvish sight, Maia was granted only the slightest advantage
just enough to make out the shape of the interior and the contents within
dried leaves
knotted wood
a couple insect husks
and nothing else
sure she had somehow made a mistake, she looked again and again
but with each scan, the truth became undeniable
“you will not find what you seek, here”
the dryad’s words echoed in Maia’s head, and with a cold sense of dread, she realised that the spirit hadn’t been speaking rhetorically
the amulet wasn’t here
and with that realisation, Maia’s lungs could hold on no longer
her breath escaped all at once, her awkward position driving the air out in an undignified huff
she clamped a hand over her mouth, but the damage had been done
she had made a sound, however small, and already her breath was mixing with the cool air
time slowed to a crawl as the dragon’s snores came to a stop
she watched in terror as its head, mere inches below her, began to stir
its nostrils flared; drawing breath with a deep, rasping inhale, and its eyes rolled in their sockets
the dragon’s jaws cracked open, revealing a black, forked tongue and rows of fetid teeth
rancid breath assaulted Maia’s senses, making her stomach turn and her head spin
she waited for the creature to open its eyes
to see the tiny morsel dangling helplessly above it
but they never did
to her greatest relief, the dragon remained asleep and blissfully unaware of her presence
relief swiftly turned to dismay, however, as the dragon proceeded to shift; its scales rippling like water across its long, serpentine body
the tree shook violently as the monster scraped against its surface, shearing away bark and causing branches to groan and sway
wrapping her arms around whatever she could find, Maia clung desperately as the shaking threatened to throw her loose
after what felt like an eternity, the vibrations mercifully ended, and the dragon returned to its snoring
but even after the tree had long fallen still, Maia found herself unable move; as if every single muscle in her body had frozen solid
in a moment of clarity, she realised that her hand had found her dagger in the chaos, and that the weapon was now clutched in an iron grip at her side
she almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation
as if a dagger would keep her safe if the dragon had actually awoken
nonetheless, she kept it in her hand, unwilling to relinquish the one defence she had
lifting her gaze to scan the surrounding treeline, she spotted the pale faces of her companions waiting in position. Intently following her progress with their eyes
Iris looked just as high sprung as she was. All but ready to throw herself into the open in order to save her sister
Maia silently prayed that her twin could keep her composure for just a little longer
wetting her incredibly dry lips, the rogue began scaling the tree; taking care to avoid any of the small twigs and leaves that had been shaken loose by the dragon’s shifting
upon reaching her chosen branch she paused, taking a moment to slow her racing heart beat
in spite of everything telling her otherwise, she needed to calm down
stress would lead to mistakes
and mistakes would lead to her death
feeling her muscles relax ever so slightly, Maia continued, stretching her body out to reach the low branch
her feet found purchase, and the rogue began creeping along its length
a few more steps and she’d be home free
“Maia!”
a single word
muffled and distorted, and yet agonisingly loud
Maia’s eyes dropped to the bronze surface of her dagger and saw a young woman’s face staring back at her, their eyes grey and piercing
there was a flash of familiarity in the half elf’s mind, but in that moment, she could barely recall her own name
a million thoughts raced through her mind as her heart pounded like a drum in her ears
one thought, however, screamed louder than the rest
run
Maia’s feet moved before the thought had even finished forming, propelling her from the branch a split second before it detonated into an explosion of jagged splinters
she hit the ground hard, feeling something give in her shoulder
she didn’t have time to dwell on it, as an earth shattering roar tore the world asunder
her feet were under her in an instant, and she broke into a sprint, not daring to look behind her
she knew that if she turned, all she would see is a flash of green scales and a mouth full of fangs closing in to end her life
the air began to reek of rotten fruit and then a body collided with her, throwing her aside
a cloud of noxious fumes ripped through the space she had just occupied, causing grass to shrivel and trees to wither
she felt hands on her arms and shoulders, and then Iris was yelling at her, hauling her to her feet amidst pained racking coughs
they didn’t have time to stop, barrelling through the trees in a mad dash to get away
as furious roars filled the air behind them, Iris stumbled through the underbrush, her legs unsteady beneath her
Maia looped an arm under her shoulder, and now the twins were supporting each other in a tangle of limbs
minutes passed. Or maybe just seconds. And then the two broke from the tree line onto an open road
sea winds rushed up to meet them, and Iris' legs fully gave out as she began greedily sucking in gasps of fresh air
“come on!” Maia urged, trying to drag her sister to her feet
but Iris was of no use now, her eyes bulging and her face flushed with colour
something ripped its way out of the underbrush and Maia turned sharply, instinctively raising the dagger that was still clutched in a death grip
instead of the dragon she was expecting, she found Cyrene and her rhomphaia, halfway through a cut that would have cleaved her in two
recognising each other at the same time, the pair lowered their weapons and turned to the wheezing half elf at their feet
concern flashing across her face, Cyrene dropped to her knees in preparation to cast a spell
before she could begin, however, Oryk emerged from the grove, blood splattered across his hands
“we don’t have time for that. Get her up!”
he raced past them, leading the charge back towards the beach
with a grunt of exertion, Cyrene lifted Iris into her arms like a baby, shoving her rhomphaia into Maia's hands
keeping a wary eye on her sister, Maia followed the half orc as she began jogging after their leader
as they ran, Oryk settled into pace beside Maia, shooting her a questioning look between grunts of breath
“do you have it?”
the half elf's shoulders fell, and she quietly shook her head
“it wasn’t there”
Oryk’s face turned a dark shade of red, and a vein bulged in his head
“what do you mean it wasn’t there?!”
“the amulet is gone. We missed it”
a stream of vile curses flowed from Oryk’s lips, and Maia wisely chose to keep her eyes forward and mouth shut
they reached the beach in record time, and Cyrene carefully laid Iris down into their waiting boat
as Oryk and Maia began pushing the vessel into the rolling surf, the dwarf gave her a hateful glare
“hells spare you when they find out we failed”
“we...haven’t...failed...yet”
Oryk turned his ire on Iris, who lay curled across the edge of the boat trying her best to suck in what air she could
“we...know...where...its...going,” she continued between strained, wheezing breaths. “We...still...have...time...”
leaping into the boat with a splash of water, Oryk waited just long enough for his companions to get in before heaving away with the oars
“we’d better. For all our sakes”
he sliced through the water with powerful strokes, driving them into deeper and darker waters
Maia slunk down beside Iris, taking her sister’s hand into her own
Iris dropped her head onto Maia’s shoulder, and the twins watched as the shores of Kalikos drifted further and further away
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